Concrete Repair Hamilton

Crack sealing runs $150 to $500. Epoxy injection runs $300 to $1,500 and over, priced on crack depth and length. Slab levelling runs $500 to $2,500 depending on the drop and the void underneath. Resurfacing a sound slab runs $40 to $80 per square metre, and full replacement including break-out runs $120 to $180 per square metre. The cause matters more than the crack, so the number comes after we have looked at it. Guide ranges, and the quote comes in writing.

It depends on three things we check on site. Whether the crack is still moving, whether the panels either side still sit level with each other, and whether the base under the slab is intact. A stable crack in a level, sound slab is a repair. A slab that has stepped at the joints has moved underneath, and sealing the top of it leaves the cause in the ground. We give you both numbers when it is genuinely a close call.

Usually the joints. Concrete shrinks as it cures and must crack somewhere, which is what control joints are for. New Zealand guidance puts them at 3 metre centres, cut to a quarter of the slab depth, within 24 hours in warm weather and 48 in cold. Cut too shallow, too late, or too far apart and the slab cracks where it likes instead. The other common cause is ground movement, particularly where a slab spans fill and undisturbed ground.

Often, yes, and it is the cheaper answer when it works. The test is whether the panel dropped as one piece and whether the concrete itself is still sound. Levelling fills the void underneath and brings the slab back up, so the existing concrete stays. A panel that cracked into sections on the way down cannot be lifted as a unit and needs replacing. We check for breaks before recommending it.

Not exactly, and anyone promising otherwise is overselling. New concrete cures to a different shade than concrete that has been down for years and weathered. Colour, texture and aggregate all differ between batches even when the mix is specified the same. We get it as close as it can reasonably go and we tell you before the work what the join will look like, so it is not a surprise on the day.

Almost always finishing or curing. Concrete that dried out too quickly, was worked while it was still bleeding water, or never got a proper damp cure ends up with a weak skin over sound concrete beneath. That is a surface problem rather than a structural one, which is why resurfacing often fixes it. We check how deep the sound concrete starts before quoting a topping, because a topping over a weak layer takes the weak layer with it.

For the private part of the driveway, no. For the vehicle crossing where it meets the kerb, yes, and that surprises people. Hamilton City Council requires every vehicle crossing to be approved before construction and inspected by staff while the work is open, and rebuilding a crossing that is already there is not exempt from that. We allow for the approval and the inspections in the programme.

It depends on the repair. A sealed crack or a ground trip hazard is usually back in service the same day. Injection and stitching depend on the product cure. Where a panel has been repoured, the concrete is damp cured for seven days, foot traffic goes on after a day or two staying off edges and corners, and vehicles after seven days, or ten through a Hamilton winter. Full strength is 28 days.