Part two in our series on Effective Crack Prevention, Control and Repair discusses Controlling Cracking. Tomorrow we cover Repairing Cracks.
Controlling cracks is accomplished by designing your structure in a way that predetermines the location and size (width) of each crack. The location can be predetermined by creating intentional planes of weakness within the concrete. These locations are called control or contraction joints. By encouraging a crack to form at that specific location, they help to prevent random cracking, which can be more difficult to repair. A properly formed control joint can easily be sealed later using an appropriate waterproofing product. If cracks do occur between the control joints, their size or width will be smaller.
Crack size can further be reduced with proper and adequate reinforcing steel design. Good reinforcement will result in cracks that are very small. These small cracks will allow crystalline waterproofing admixtures to self-seal the cracks without any need for repair work. As an added bonus, the concrete and structure will be much stronger.
Read yesterday’s post on Crack Prevention.