Living in Texas, many of us are strangers to constant freezing cold weather. The intense weather storm in February 2020 was a prime example of that.
However, Texans are familiar with how fast the weather can change within the span of a couple of hours.
During the winter months, we often see freezing temperatures throughout the night, and then by lunchtime, it’s sunny and 75 degrees.
Many homeowners are surprised to know that the constant freeze-thaw cycles we experience in Texas can have lasting effects on the concrete around their home.
Jade Owens, director of operations for Baird Foundation Repair, explained how freezing weather can affect the concrete around your home.
How exactly can the constant change in temperatures affect the concrete around your home?
“What we’re experiencing right now has huge impacts on concrete whenever you have these drastic temperature changes and also adding in some moisture,” Owens said. “What we’re seeing is concrete has its porous. And so whenever it thaws or it freezes at night, moisture gets trapped in there, it expands. And then during the day when the sun comes out, it starts to thaw out.”
Takeaway: Due to the porous nature of concrete, the constant freeze-thaw cycles we see during the winter months in Texas can be damaging to the concrete around your home, Owens mentioned.
“It’s this constant kind of expanding contracting cycle that’s happening,” Owens said. “What you’ll start to see on your concrete is hairline cracks, and you also start to see pitting flaking and then over time, even the soil weakening underneath that concrete. Some moisture gets in there starts to wash it out. That’s when you really start to see the damage happen and you’ll see tripping hazards. And over time, it just kind of wreaks havoc.”
What are some preventative measures our viewers can take if they are worried about the long-term effects of winter on the concrete around their home?
“There’s actually a lot of options you have,” Owens said. “The first and most basic is just to check your drainage and make sure that you have water going away from your concrete. Also give a company like Baird a call, because we actually offer a concrete protection system that will not only repair your concrete if you’ve kind of let it linger too long, but prevent future damage. This could be applied, like, brand new concrete to keep that from ever happening to your concrete.”
Takeaway: Make sure you have proper drainage and your concrete joints are sealed, to not allow water to wash away the soil underneath your concrete slabs.
How does the Concrete Protection System work?
“We have a full three-part system. It starts out with our polyurethane foam and that gets injected into the concrete,” Owens said. “That’s what’s going to strengthen that weak soil underneath it. It can stabilize it, but it can also lift your driveway, sidewalks, things like that. And then we go in and do a joint sealant. If there are any cracks in your joints or if you have cracks in your concrete, we can seal those joints and that’ll prevent any further moisture from sinking into that concrete. And then the last part is our sealant. That is really a repellent for your concrete. As you have that moisture coming, it just repels it off. It’s not going to cause that long-term damage.”
Takeaway: Baird Foundation Repair offers a three-part system that will improve the life of your concrete.
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Baird Foundation Repair provides services for slab, pier and beam foundations, as well as concrete leveling of driveways, sidewalks and pool decks.