How to Repair Salt Damaged Cement

Put on the safety goggles. Remove any crumbling or loose cement by chipping it away using a cold chisel and a hammer. Use the hammer and chisel to create an indentation around any vertical areas that you want to fill to keep a patch from sliding off.

Sweep up larger pieces of loose cement. Spray the cement with a garden hose to remove the small pieces of old cement that you chiseled away and any remaining dust or dirt.

Use a clean paintbrush to apply a coat of cement bonding agent over the areas that you want to patch.

Use the small pieces of scrap wood to create wooden frames that will fit around the areas that you will be patching. Use duplex head nails to hold the frames together. Rub a coat of form release oil onto the frames and set them into place around the damaged areas.

Combine the cement patch material and the amount of water directed by your particular product in a large bucket. Mix the product thoroughly using a shovel.

Pour a thin, well-packed layer into each of the wooden frames. Tamp the cement down in each frame, if your tamp is small enough to fit inside each frame. Use a small float that fits inside the frames to level the cement. Run a trowel over the surface of the cement to smooth the finish, if a trowel will fit into the frames. Allow the cement to cure for 10-30 minutes.

Cover the frames with a plastic tarp for one week. Once a day, remove the tarp and spray the patches with water from a fine-mist spray bottle. Recover the forms with the plastic tarp.

After one week, remove the tarp and the frames. Use a hammer to remove the nails from frames that do not lift away easily and take them apart from around the patches.