LESLIE: Jean from Illinois is calling in with a concrete question. How can we help you today?
JEAN: Yeah, I’ve got about a half-inch crack on my patio.
TOM: OK.
JEAN: And I’ve tried everything you can imagine to caulk it – I’ve tried concrete, I’ve tried patch, I’ve tried everything in the store – and it separates over the winter.
TOM: Mm-hmm. Yeah, well you’re trying the wrong products. I don’t know what you’ve been putting down there. Caulk is not the right product, concrete is definitely not the right product. The only products that are going to work here are epoxy patching compounds because they adhere permanently to the old, deteriorated concrete surface and they do not separate. They’re not – water can’t get into these products, so there’s nothing to freeze and split them apart.
So, what you want to buy here, Jean, is an epoxy patching compound and if you can’t find one at the store, there’s a company called Abatron that sells them online – Abatron.com. They have a product called Abocrete that’s a liquid epoxy that’s blended with sand that works very, very well here. You could mix it up kind of loose if you need a thin layer or thick if you’ve got to really build up an area that’s been deteriorated. That will fix it once, it’ll fix it right and you won’t have to deal with it again. OK?
JEAN: OK, and I can only order that online?
TOM: There’s probably local distributors but I would go to the Abatron website and find out where there’s one in the Illinois area. OK?
JEAN: OK. Thanks so much. That’s what I thought. I kept asking about epoxy and they said, “No, no, no.” Because I know how epoxy works.
TOM: Yeah, next time listen to that little bird in your head because it’s always going to be right.
JEAN: Yeah. Yeah. OK, thanks so much you guys.
TOM: Jean, thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
