How to Repair Salt Damage on Concrete
Whenever concrete freezes in the winter, you probably put rock salt on them. Unfortunately, this can horribly damage your concrete. This is something that you will notice after just a few winters of using rock salt. You can make some simple repairs to remedy this problem.
Things That You Will Need
- Some protective clothing
- A hammer
- A chisel
- A broom with a dustpan
- A garden hose
- Concrete bonding agent
- A large paintbrush
- A shovel
- Concrete patch product
- Some water
- A bucket
- A metal trowel
- A plastic tarp
- A garden hose with a fine misting attachment
- Wear clothing that will protect your skin (i.e. a shirt with long sleeves, long pants, socks, gloves) and a pair of safety glasses.
- Remove any large pieces of loose concrete.
- Use a hammer and a chisel to create an indented border around the outside perimeter of any vertical surfaces that you need to patch.
- Use a broom and dustpan to thoroughly sweep the area.
- Use a garden hose with medium water pressure to spray down the entire area.
- Let the concrete thoroughly dry completely for a day or two.
- Use a large paintbrush to apply a generous coat of concrete bonding agent to the surface.
- Mix the concrete patch product with a shovel.
- Put some of the prepared concrete patch onto a metal trowel.
- Trowel a 3/8-inch thick layer of concrete over all of the damaged areas.
- Use your trowel to smooth the surface of the patches.
- Allow the first layer of patching to come to a soft-set.
- Apply more concrete patch to each area so that it is even with the concrete around it. Smooth the surface with the flat side of your trowel.
- Scrape away any extra patch product.
- Cover the patched concrete with plastic tarps and secure them in place with painter's tape.
- Remove the tarps daily and gently spray down the curing concrete patches with a garden hose that has a fine misting attachment on it.
- Remove the tarps completely after one week has passed.