LESLIE: Talking to Dorothy in Texas who’s dealing with some holes in a floor. What happened?
DOROTHY: Yes, when we drive in our garage after we had a snow and we have the salt off the highways, our garage floor crumbles.
TOM: Hmm.
DOROTHY: I’d like to know what I can do to repair that or do I have to take the whole garage floor out.
TOM: Well, it depends on the level of deterioration. If it’s just some surface deterioration, that can be repaired with an epoxy patching compound. If the entire garage floor surface is really structurally deteriorated, then that might be a situation where it has to be broken out and replaced. But if it’s just minor …
DOROTHY: No, it’s only a small area.
TOM: Well, if it’s a very small area then you can patch it with an epoxy patching compound.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm, like AboCrete or AboCast.
TOM: AboCrete, right. Mm-hmm, exactly.
LESLIE: These are self-leveling. You mix them up. You pour it onto the damaged area. It’s going to fix itself and adhere to the area very well and make it nice and even and smooth. But keep in mind, Dorothy, that the salts, especially that the highway department uses, you know, you’ll see after a winter season, when there’s been a lot of salt deposits on that highway, a huge amount of potholes. You know, it does a great job of removing that snow and ice but it also does a wonderful job of damaging the concrete.
DOROTHY: Right.
LESLIE: So you’ve got to, you know, know that this is a repair that if you’ve got a wintry season – you know, a snowy winter – it’s going to be something that you’re going to have to sort of stay on top of because it’ll continue to damage it.
TOM: You know what I would recommend, Dorothy? Fix the pitted areas, fix the deteriorated areas and then paint the entire garage floor with an epoxy paint. It’s a two-part mix; very easy to do. You mix it up. It cures pretty quickly. Paint that whole floor and that ought to protect it from that road salt.
DOROTHY: OK.
TOM: Dorothy, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
Leave a Reply