Liquid Cement for Side Wall Repair

The Nature of Concrete

• Cement is one of the hardest building substances known to man and has been in use for thousands of years. Once it begins to chemically react to water it starts a curing cycle that can last weeks and months before the cement completely cures, and it can do so even when submerged in water. To date, as is evident by multiple ruins around the world which are under the seas, concrete seems to be capable of lasting an immeasurable length of time.

Slurry Coat

• Human error is often the reason concrete flakes off enough to need a slurry coat of something new. Cracks are natural, but when concrete falls off in chunks it is because mixing was not done properly. You have to coat the area with a mixture of pure cement known as slurry, which is simply water and cement mixed together to achieve a paint-like consistency that is then applied as a patch.

Tooling

• The only way to apply cement slurry as a patch is to paint it on with a paintbrush. But after the cement begins to dry up a little bit, smooth it down to match the surrounding concrete. This can be done with a metal flat trowel or even a putty knife if you are working with a small enough area. Wait for the concrete to begin to harden slightly and smooth it over to achieve your finish.

Curing

• Just as the curing phase is important for the original concrete, it is also important for the new liquid cement patch you just applied. Seventy-two hours is the minimum recommended curing time for any concrete mixture (of which cement is an ingredient) before you allow water, foot traffic or the elements to have contact with the surface. After that point it has already begun curing and will be unaffected by anything other than a natural disaster.