Concrete Remediation
Concrete remediation is a core in-house activity and the origin of the business when it was established in 1955. We started off with our own in-house method of repair, The Cathite Repair System which was a very effective method using site batched repair materials with sika No.1 waterproofer and jeolite/jenoseal to treat the exposed reinforcement. Today however, the majority of the materials we use are factory batched, and we are proud to say that we are approved applicators for all the leading material suppliers in the industry in Australia.
In the UK we assisted with the development of the European Standard EN1504 for concrete repair and in Australia we follow the HB84:2018 standard "Guide to Concrete Repair and Protection" published by Standards Australia and ACRA.
The repair of concrete buildings and structures requires quality materials but more importantly experienced and skilled tradesmen to ensure that the repair is undertaken correctly. The removal of the defective areas of concrete, preparation of the exposed steel reinforcement and concrete reinstatement has to be done correctly for the repair to be durable.
For small repair areas we use electric or pneumatic tools to remove the concrete and for larger volumes we often use hydro demolition. The concrete reinstatement can be hand applied mortars or for large volumes it may be sprayed gunite or flowable self-compacting concrete. The concrete surface finishing often needs to match the colour and texture of the parent which might be a shutter board finish or exposed aggregate finish. Our skilled workforce are able to achieve a high quality finish to match the parent concrete.
After repairing the concrete a protective coating can be applied to all the exposed concrete surfaces to enhance the durability and for aesthetic reasons as well. These coatings protect against further carbonation of the concrete and chloride ingress, thus slowing down the corrosion process.
These services are undertaken by our own directly employed operatives and supervised by our Chartered Engineers and Surveyors in a safe and professional manner. CRL invest £0.5M per annum ensuring that all operatives and staff have the skills necessary to competently and safely undertake the repairs. All our operatives have an annually reviewed training matrix covering a whole range of skill modules, as well as attending regular training events with our material suppliers and in our own in-house 'School of Excellence'.
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"Concrete repair is the core in-house repair activity and the origin of the business when it was established in 1955."