concrete patch vs. rain

[Chris]

hello.

yesterday, around 2pm, I patched two huge cracks in my driveway that ran the legnth of the individual pads. It couldn't wait any longer, imo, because they were starting to shift and become like little "steps".. I used quikrete vinyl patch. I was done around 3:30.. and it started to get cloudy. I didn't think nothing of it.. I just left the patches as they were, and didn't cover them. around 3:30am today, it was raining outside.. I looked at the patches around 6am and they seemed to be still intact.. I touched one area and it was solid, and another one was a little soft.. Do I have any worries about the patches getting ruined by rain? I actually found out it is going to be raining off and on for the next few days... I was actually thinking that the rain will be good for them to keep them from hardening to quickly.. (also, being that it was between 55-66 degrees outside, I made the mix a little thicker so that it dry a little faster in the cooler weather..

Thanks. Chris

[Waldo Point]

Back in my wooden tugboat days. I used vinyl concrete patcher on the underwater part of the hull to patch worm holes I saw the boat out of the water about 9 years after I sold it and the patches were still holding strong. I might add that I did this once when the boat was beached on a low tide and the patch only had a couple of hours to dry, again no problems.

Waldo Point,

[aemeijers]

Hate to rain on your parade, but if the parts of the slab were becoming 'stepped', your patch likely will, at best, slow the problem down slightly. Shifting in the vertical plane means improper substrate and drainage. A common problem here in the north- water gets under a chunk, freezes, and pushes it up. My mother's old house had a garage floor that visibly humped in winter, and settled back flat in summer. (Cheap SOB cookie-cutter builder didn't bother with a foundation or footers under the door edge of the garage slab.)

Hey, it's cheap, and it may buy you some time. But be aware a replacement is probably in your future.

aem sends...

[Chris]

drainage is most likley the cause of this-- the original drain line for the gutters and sump pump was under the driveway, and had to be replaced-- it was cracked.. and it was probably like that for years.

this is the aftermath.. Hopefully the patchs will stop the rain from getting down in there and causing more problems..

thanks..