Void filling under concrete sidewalks

Concrete sidewalks have to be robust, and usually, these require a lot of concrete crack repair or just normal concrete repair. Clearly, this is because the thousands of people walk and run on the sidewalks daily, furthermore during winters the snow and thaw damages the concrete because of which often a concrete crack repair has to be done.

Now if the damage is the one where a part of the concrete gets cracked, then this can result in a tripping hazard for travelers who are walking on it, so it needs to undergo concrete crack repair immediately.

The most common method for concrete crack repair is mudjacking.. Mudjacking is a concrete repair/ concrete patch process where a mixture of sand and water is used to fill in the cracks, once it is injected into the concrete using the heavy hydraulic power it solidifies and holds the concrete surface above it.

The mixture once solidified weighs over a hundred lbs per cubic foot. Mudjacking is also often used if there is an erosion underneath the concrete so basically there is a void, and this is a very serious issue which if not managed the right way can cause many more problems. The most significant problem is that the concrete is now being held on air there is a void underneath thus it can break anytime, so a void fill is required.

Polyurethane void filling

A concrete crack filler is used to inject the mixture through a few holes drilled on the surface of the concrete. However, recently concrete crack repair is being done with the use of a polyethylene foam which is although more expensive, but it is much more environment-friendly (which is a big concern for the government who might want to fix the sidewalk in the greenest way possible).

Regardless of whether mudjacking was used or polyurethane foam was used for the concrete repair/void filling the cause of the problem will have to be looked for and solved so that the issue does not happen again and again.

In the case of sidewalks, the cause is poor drainage which causes erosion of the concrete and results in voids. If poor drainage is the reason then no matter how many times the concrete undergoes concrete repair the problem will happen again in future, so the drainage has to be fixed which is the root of the problem. This is especially true for tropical countries where the weather is rather moist and rainy all year around. Conclusively, for sidewalks the most efficient way of a concrete crack repair is by injecting polythene foam using a concrete crack filler; furthermore, it is the most used technique for a concrete patch these days because of how quickly the process can be done and dusted.