LESLIE: Alright. Now we’ve got Elaine in North Carolina who’s dealing with a porch that seems to be falling apart. Tell us what’s going on.
ELAINE: Well, the porch was originally some kind of cement; we’re not sure what. And when the inspector for the termites came around, he said, “Right up next to your house, it’s very – or next to the kitchen, underneath the house, it’s very damp.” And he looked – was looking around on top. He said, “You’ve got a crack right there between your stoop, your porch and the house, where it just runs from one side to the other, you know?”
TOM: Right. OK.
ELAINE: So I said, “OK. Well, I’ll just close that up with a little bit of cement.”
TOM: Right.
ELAINE: So I thought, “Well, maybe it’d look right and do right. I’d just cement the whole porch.”
TOM: Yep. And guess what? It all cracked and fell out, right?
ELAINE: Right.
TOM: OK. And you know why? Because you can’t patch a concrete porch with cement. You have to use a patching compound, usually epoxy-based. There are certain types of epoxy-based cements that are sticky and designed to adhere well to that raw concrete. If you try to put new concrete against old concrete, as soon as you get some water and some frost, even, there, it just breaks apart and falls out and just becomes rubble.
ELAINE: Oh, I see. So what should I use? Should I pull out all of the porch, then? All the – that top layer?
TOM: I’d definitely get rid of all the loose stuff.
ELAINE: OK.
TOM: And then I would use an epoxy patching compound. You could pick one up from any home center that sells QUIKRETE products – Q-U-I-K-R-E-T-E. They have patching cements that are designed specifically for this.
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