Category Archives: Methods

How to Prepare Your Concrete for Winter in Salt Lake City

As the temperatures start to drop, it’s time to start thinking about how to prepare your concrete for the snow and cold of winter. Utah is no stranger to winter weather, so it’s important to take steps now to ensure that your concrete can withstand whatever this winter throws at it.

At Lift-Up Concrete Lifting, LLC, we specialize in concrete lifting, leveling, and repair services in the Salt Lake City area. And we’re happy to give you some tips on how to prepare your concrete for the winter months ahead.

Remove any dirt, debris, or leaves from your concrete surface

One of the best ways to prevent snow and ice from sticking to your concrete surface is to remove any dirt, debris, or leaves before the winter weather hits. This will give the snow and ice less of a surface to cling to, making it easier to shovel or plow.

In addition, it’s important to keep your concrete surface clean throughout the winter. Any salt, sand, or other materials that are used to melt snow and ice can also damage your concrete. As a result, it’s best to sweep or brush away any residual snow and ice on a regular basis.

Check for cracks and repair them immediately

As any homeowner knows, concrete is a durable and long-lasting material. However, it is not immune to damage, and cracks can occur over time. In the winter, these cracks can expand and deepen due to the freezing and thawing of water.

As a result, it is essential to check your concrete regularly for cracks and to repair them as soon as possible.

There are a variety of ways to repair cracks, depending on their size and depth. For small surface cracks, a simple patching material can be used. For deeper cracks, you may need to use a bonding agent or concrete filler, or call Lift-Up Concrete Lifting, LLC, experts in concrete repair in the Salt Lake City area. Regardless of the repair method, it is important to act quickly to prevent further damage.

Protect your concrete from de-icing chemicals

In the winter, concrete can be damaged by de-icing chemicals. These chemicals cause the concrete to break down, resulting in cracks and holes.

While de-icing chemicals are important for keeping sidewalks and driveways safe, they can also cause significant damage to concrete.

To protect your concrete in the winter, use a product that is designed specifically for concrete. This will help to prevent the concrete from breaking down and will also make it easier to remove the de-icing chemicals when they are no longer needed.

Seal your concrete to protect it from damage

Concrete is a durable material that can withstand a lot of wear and tear. However, it is not invincible. Over time, concrete can become cracked and chipped, especially if it is exposed to extreme temperatures.

One way to help protect your concrete surfaces is to seal them with a layer of protective coating. This will create a barrier between the concrete and the elements, helping to prevent damage.

Sealing your concrete is especially important in the winter months when freezing temperatures can cause the concrete to expand and crack. Because sealing forms a barrier that helps to resist moisture, salt, and staining. It also makes it easier to clean the surface in the spring.

Remove snow and ice from your concrete regularly

In the winter months, it’s important to keep an eye on your concrete surfaces. Snow and ice can accumulate quickly, and if not removed in a timely manner, can cause considerable damage. Not only can the weight of the snow and ice cause cracks and breakage, but the freeze-thaw cycle can also lead to spalling and surface deterioration.

The best way to prevent this damage is to remove snow and ice as soon as possible. A snow shovel or ice cleaner will do the job quickly and efficiently and help to keep your concrete looking its best.

Those are our tips for how to prepare your concrete for the winter months ahead! By taking these steps now, you can be sure that your concrete will be able to withstand whatever Old Man Winter throws at it.

Don’t wait until it’s too late contact Lift-Up Concrete, LLC, today.

Concrete Composition: Proportioning and Reinforcements

In part one of this two-part blog series, we went over some of the basics on how concrete is made. Understanding the composition of concrete is often important for those who are caring for or maintaining it, and it’s a pretty simple formula in most cases.

At Lift-Up Concrete, we’re happy to help with a wide range of concrete lifting and leveling services for any concrete slab that’s been damaged in any way. Our professionals are experts in the way concrete is created and poured into your various slabs, and this expertise often informs our concrete repair services. While part one of our series went over the simple recipe usually used for concrete, today’s part two will dig into a few other important areas to be aware of.

Concrete Proportioning

As we discussed in part one, concrete is made primarily from a combination of cement, water and various aggregates (stone, gravel, sand, etc.). As such, a vital part of its proper installation comes down to using the right mixture of these three ingredients.

A concrete mixture without enough cement, for instance, will be thinner and weaker than originally designed. This can often cause cracking, especially if the concrete wasn’t laid to a specific level during installation, or if it was installed over another material that’s less than ideal. This is where concrete lifting services like ours are vital – we’ll carefully lift and repair your damaged slab so that its leveled out properly again.

Concrete Reinforcements

We should also note here that when a given concrete slab is poured (including many concrete foundations), it’s not simply solid concrete. Rather, the slab is also reinforced with fibers and/or wire mesh, which ensures that it is not only properly supported, but also strong and durable. Depending on the project, these reinforcements may be cast directly into the concrete during pouring (which is why it’s important to have a lift service like us in some cases), or they may need to be interwoven after the slab has been poured.

If your concrete was damaged in some way that caused the reinforcement to become exposed, it can leave you with a weakened structure. This is particularly problematic if the reinforcements are what keep your concrete slab from cracking further. Repairing such damage is vital for maintaining your home or business’s structural integrity and keeping it safe as long as possible.

Decorative Concrete

Finally, there are also forms of decorative concrete that include color additives or concrete printing formats. These types of concrete — plus their care and potential repair needs — require a thorough understanding of how additives or printing will impact the slab. If you have questions here, our team will be happy to answer them.

For more on how concrete is made and poured, or to learn about any of our concrete lifting and leveling services, speak to the staff at Lift-Up Concrete today.

Concrete Composition: Mix and Cement Notes

Concrete is one of the single most common harder substances used in our world today, but many people — even those who utilize it regularly on their property — don’t really understand how it’s made. Concrete is a combination of a few different elements in most cases, combined to create the finished product you see on areas like driveways, sidewalks and numerous others.

At Lift-Up Concrete, we’re happy to offer a wide range of concrete lifting and leveling services for situations where your concrete undergoes any form of damage. Part of this process, though, and part of our common services provided to clients as well, involves understanding the composition of the concrete we’re working on, as this often plays a major role in how we’ll remedy any damage that’s taken place. For those who are unaware, what goes into the makeup of concrete, and how does this composition vary depending on the type of slab needed? This two-part blog series will tell you everything you need to know.

Standard Concrete Composition

Concrete is a mixture of cement, water and various aggregates. The simplest concrete composition consists of 10-15% cement, 15-20% water, and 65-75% aggregates. This mixture needs to set for 8 hours before the concrete can be used.

When we talk about “aggregates,” we’re referring to a few different possible substances: Sand, gravel, crushed stones and possibly a few others. These may be used in different combinations depending on the exact slab you require.

The properties of concrete are determined by its ingredients. Stirring the concrete after it has been mixed will increase the strength of the material as well as cause bubbles to rise to the surface which can be popped prior to final use. Cement also forms a skin on top, which can be scraped off so that it doesn’t interfere with casting or mixing with other materials like gravel.

Concrete and Cement Are Not the Same

While cement is an important ingredient in the formation of concrete, they are not the same and should not be used interchangeably. Concrete is a mixture of cement, water and various aggregates. Cement itself is the substance that creates the glue, binding these three ingredients together.

Cement can be manufactured using one of eight different ingredients: Lime, silica, sulfur trioxide, alkaline, iron oxide, alumina, and calcium sulfate. Within the concrete world, it will then be made into a paste that hardens and holds the other concrete ingredients together within the slab, with highly effective bonding qualities that allow it to create a long-lasting adhesive effect.

For more on the basic composition of concrete, or to learn about any of our concrete lifting and leveling services, speak to the staff at Lift-Up Concrete today.