Mark - PA DOT concrete

Took note to DOT contractors using a patch material on some of the bridges and roads on I-80 & I-81. It appears to be some sort of epoxy or other fast cure resin compound since traffic was only diverted from the lane during the actual patching work and just long enough following for them to pick up the traffic cones and barrels. I've tried some expoxy repair compounds for concrete with mixed results but mostly complete failure. The stuff you guys are using seems to be holding up very well considering the weather and pounding it takes from the traffic. What I want is something that will fill in holes and such without having to remove a large section of floor and replace with new concrete. It never fails you have spots where slag from the cutting torch pops a section surface off 1/4" deep or steel sheet corner takes a gouge out of the floor...ect. With the HIGH cost of the epoxy products and lack of quality, I have stuck with using thin set mortar (usually only used as a base for tile/slate) This is not very durable to abrasion and impact but does stick rather well and is cheap enough to not complain about when it gives up.

My input on sealers; I have used Thompsons and it's totally useless on everything I put it on from wood to concrete. Also tried a couple latex sealers, one to be applied immediately following finishing, this one did not last two days and peeled off .. the other was to applied 35 days following pour and it did not make it a full day and peeled up like a sheet of plastic. One product that does work very well is the sealer from Certified Labs. VERY nasty stuff to work with, you need a full face respirator and prefferably supplied breathing air if using it inside a building. This stuff is not cheap by any means but does keep oil/fuel and everything else from sticking or soaking into the concrete.

First of all age of concrete plays a roll because if the concrete is old we have to use a resin that adheres well to an oily, dirty surface. If the concrete is newer (within 28 days of the pour) the dirt doesn't play a factor. Another consideration is time. How fast do we want it to setup and get traffice onto it, etc. So that determines the product many times but they are all basically a high cure, high resistance epoxy. They hold up tremendously well.

Some of the products they use are from a company called Eastern Chemical. known as Amidoamines.

Please follow this link to read about them, this is a PDF document so you NEED acrobat reader to see it. Acrobat is downloaded free at www.adobe.com :

Link

Also some Epi-Cure products:

Link

The product at the above link (EpiCure 3030) is not as fast at setting as what you see we use on the highway, but it will work very very well for concrete repair none the less. One of the key's is to use Amidoamines. ANY of these products bond to concrete EXTREMELY well.

A company you may want to contact to get some of these products is A.R. Chambers. They are a huge reseller of these types of products and I assure you they will be able to answer your questions. They are a Sika dealer (grout) but also have a very wide range of epoxy products. 800-223-8955

Let me know what you make out or if you have any other questions.

Going through the same thing with paint now too. Was using Coranado brand but when they were forced into going "low VOC" the paint went plop too. Going to try Magnetic brand paint now on the advice gotten here, Low VOC as well but satisfaction guaranteed. BTW, they sent me a samply of their "chassis coat" on a thin piece of AL...stuff looks good and is definitely tough while extremely pliable. If I decide to go with this over my usual RusFre brand of rustproofing and undercoating combo, I'll definitely post the results.