Did Your Tractor Brake Your Curb
This is going to be another one of those letter answering
articles.
Thanks for looking, Del
From: Shirley Smith
Sent: Monday, November 16, 2009 10:33 PM
To: del@delsmolds.com
Subject: curb repair
Hi!
I have a somewhat unique problem. We own a dairy farm,
with cement curbs. One of our daughters hit the curb in
the barn with a tractor, breaking a section 3-4' long
off. My question--is it possible to stick it back
together (bearing in mind that along with cows, is cow
manure--lots of it, and all the time) or do we need to do a new
pour, and if we do, how do we connect the new pour to the rest
of the curb?
Thanks,
Shirley Smith
Hello Shirley:
Thanks for looking at my site. I have been away and
apologize for the late reply.
I think your best bet is to pour a new piece, sticking back
together never seems to work.
You should clean it with your pressure washer if you have
one. If no then do the best you can with dishwasher
soap. Not dish soap. Dishwasher soap will get any
oil and stuff off the old concrete and does not leave residue
if you rinse well.
Next drill a couple of holes in the ends where the new pour
will join the original concrete. This is easy to do with
a hammer drill. You will want them to be big enough to
put a piece of 3/8" rebar into. Four pieces about 4
inches into the each end of the old concrete will do the
job.
Cut your rebar into 4 pieces about 24" to 30" long and
place them into the 4 holes you drilled. Place the other
ends as close as you can to the center of the form you have
built for your new pour. You can block them up with some
short pieces of steel or even wood if you need to.
If you can do it the rebar would work better if it was a single
piece joining the 2 original curbs together. Maybe you
could bend the bar and stick it in the 2 holes, then
straighten it back up so it stayed in. I hope you get
what I mean here, it is a little hard for me to describe.
When you buy your ready-mix concrete (you will have to do the
calculation regards how many sacks you need) pick up a can or
jar of some white glue. 'Elmer's' is one brand everyone
knows but you can use any brand you like, it is all the same
for our purposes.
Mix your concrete according to the instructions on the sack and
before you pour paint the ends of the old concrete with the
white glue. You don't need to drown it but be sure to
scrub it into the old concrete as well as you can.
Pour and wait.
I hope this helps.
Del
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