Any concrete experts? (Different Q)

[Al Bundy]

The other day I noticed a small hole (2" maybe) right in the middle of the concrete driveway. Concrete around it is in good shape. Funny though. Concrete appears to be somewhat thin because dirt appears to be where the hole is. Maybe piss-poor high spot when originally done many many years ago.

I know I need to do something because the surface water when it rains is gonna make it get bigger at an accelerated rate now. Why the hole appears is another separate issue of course.

Should I dig out dirt with like a screwdriver down a few inches and fill it with concrete? I know concrete would be better but what about mortar mix. I have a partial bag of that laying around. Could toss in some small stones.

Yea I know. I could start digging out those few inches and find there is a bottom of the iceberg hole underneath. I'll have to tap around the hole to see what it sounds like.

[Rueben Konic]

"Al Bundy" wrote

It sounds as if, it was a grade stake, which wasn't pounded down before screeding, though some pound it down after screeding. You probably had a thin layer of concrete over top, the stake rotted, and the thin layer busted apart leaving a hole.

To fix it, you'll have to get other advice.

[Bob]

Probably a bubble in the concrete when they poured it. I have one in my sidewalk that's been there for 20 years and it has never gotten bigger. If you live where you have winter freezing, I'd be concerned with water getting in the hole, freezing, & cracking the concrete. I'd fill it with anything to keep the water out & forget it.

[nowforsale]

mortar mix, with out without small stones tossed in, or concrete should work, you might want to undercut around the edge of the hole a little so when you patch the hole it will stay in place better

for illustration:

hole undercut hole not undercut

------ ------- -------- -------- / \\ | | / \\ | | / \\ | | ------------ ------

[jazon48]

If your mortar mix has been laying around, it might have gone bad. Make up a small test batch first to make sure it sets up well.

My big box store sells 10-lb baglets of concrete and mortar mix for ~ $2.

I use latex-modified concrete whenever possible. It makes small repairs much more durable. The bottled -latex has a good shelf life so you can keep it around for next year's projects. I have a six year old bottle which still does the job.

Jason

[RicodJour]

Hydraulic cement would be the best choice. It expands as it sets so it will really lock into the hole (clean the edges like you're going to eat off of them), and the stuff is waterproof. It won't match the existing driveway concrete, but neither will anything else you do.

R

[Al Bundy]

"nowforsale" wrote in news:tdbPg.4292$ [e-mail]:

Thanks for the reply and Steven Spielberg graphics:-)

[Al Bundy]

[e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Thanks for the reply. I got the mortar mix less than a month ago. It should be good if I choose to go that route.

[Al Bundy]

"RicodJour" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Makes sense.

May not be clean enough. Have chowed a sandwich with portland cement dust on me and around. Hopefully it only causes cancer in California. I'm not in CA :-)

Kinda hard to mix up time as an ingredient.

Thanks for the reply...

[John Hines]

Being a driveway, carefully placed oil drips will do the job of camouflage in no time at all.

-- Silly sig to prevent isp ad

[Al Bundy]

John Hines wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Sounds like a real HUD Hacker trick. Nice one though:-)