Have you ever observed concrete problems? If you took a walk outside today I would say you have. Especially in the areas of the U.S. with freezing temperatures. We all know about how the freeze thaw cycles effect concrete and when one puts a patching material down it simply does not last a winter season. So what usually happens is a maintenance staff member will apply more of the same material once the weather warms up.
Wouldn’t it be great if one could put down a material once and have that material last for more than one year? Take an exterior stairway at a shopping mall. After years of the freeze thaw cycle and salt being applied to the stairs in the winter the concrete is eroding away. Now comes one of two choices for the operations manager. Choice one is to hire a contractor to come in and repair that stairwell using ready mix concrete or a Portland cement patching material. Choice two is to have internal staff make the repair using a polymer modified material.
Now we will evaluate both options. Its great when a contractor can quote a job and complete the repair for a lower cost than having to replace an entire stairway. Your problem comes when the winter arrives, because the bond on concrete to concrete is not strong enough and when your freeze thaw cycle occurs and your chloride sinks into the surface your repair is not going to last more than a few years. Now there are ways to protect the concrete from chloride attack and ways to get a stronger bond to your surface but some contractors are concerned with profit and will make that shortcut more often than not.
When using non cement polymer material such as the Enecon Duraquartz one will not have to worry about bond strengths or chloride resistance. The material can hold up to the chloride in the wintertime and has a bond strength that is so strong that it cannot be broken without ripping out existing concrete in the process. What about a curbs in a parking lot? The material is nearly four times as strong as conventional concrete which means when a repair with conventional patching material has failed the Duraquartz will not.