Roofing Tar Drying Time

[F Russell]

I have a basement leak. The problem appears to be the separation of the concrete driveway from the house foundation at one point.

I decided to fill up the separation, which is about 5 feet long, with some roofing tar. This tar comes in a can just like paint.

After proper masking I filled up the separation with the tar, but now I am concerned about drying time. The application was on Saturday morning and the weather forecast has a chance of rain on Monday afternoon. In between there will nothing but sunny skies.

Is this sufficient time for the tar to harden or should I put some kind of cover over it? Or should I just leave it uncovered in spite of the rain?

[Terry Coombs]

  You'd have been better off to patch the crack with a product called "hydraulic cement" , a concrete product that expands as it hardens .

[trader_4]

Except that he's trying to fill a crack between a sidewalk and the foundation, where there will be movement and it will crack again. I think he wants a flexible product. Not sure if roofing tar is right for it either.

If I were looking for a product for that, I'd start in the concrete section at HD or similar. They have a variety of caulking/sealant stuff that comes in tubes that fit a caulking gun and it sets up, but remains flexible. Another possibility is in the driveway crack sealant family. For that they also sell rolls of caulk in various sizes that you can put into a crack, then melt with a torch.

The roofing tar, I guess it depends on the actual product. They are petroleum based, for sure I've seen some of those in caulk gun tubes that say they can be used wet or dry. Since it's already done, I would see how it's setting up and if it;s still far from cured then I would keep big water away from it. Getting wet probably won't matter, but I wouldn't let a flood hit it either.

[Clare Snyder]

Gorrilla tape

[Ed Pawlowski]

You should be ok in a matter of hours. It will skin over and repel water in a short time.