Do I Really Need to Call the Concrete Company?
Depending on the nature of the problem you are having with the need to replace concrete, not always a call to the Ready-Mix company is the most cost-effective solution.
Recently I was on a project visit and the customer had some plumbing lines recently moved. This left a trench about 14-15 feet long. I asked the Plant Engineer what his plans for remediation were. He said he had a call into the Ready-Mix company, but due to the weather, they were 3-4 weeks out.
I explained to him that Tuff Industrial products could help him fix this trench in 1-2 days. He could remove the safety cones and go on with business as usual. This caught his ear. My solution was to have him purchase 20-25 bags of pea gravel, 20-25 bags of fine silica sand, and 12 of our Tuff Patch-MP kits.
We met after lunch and poured the pea gravel into the trench which was about 6-8 inches in depth. We spread this evenly and then poured the silica sand in and repeated the leveling process. He asked why we needed to do these two steps. Quite simple; if you filled a glass jar with golf balls and held it up to the light you would see voids. Add pellets, shake the jar and the amount of light is almost invisible. This is what we were actually doing with both the pea gravel and silica sand.
I was able to find a 2” x 4” board and tamped the mix down just to add a little insurance that we had a dense packing below.
We mixed up two of the Tuff Industrial MP patch kits and spread them up to the level of the plant floor. We continued until the trench was complete, with ½ of one kit remaining. I instructed him to leave the safety cones in place until this time the next day. After that, the old trench would be ready for both foot and cart traffic.
As I was packing up to head out, he tapped me on the shoulder and told me I/we saved him over $2200, and more importantly, the area was no longer a safety issue. They would be coating it over the weekend with our Tuff Patch Top Coat #710, 100% solids epoxy top coat to match the rest of the plant flooring.
Tough problems need TUFF INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS!
