I poured a concrete patio slab that cracked in a month

Ignored the advice to use wire mesh and just mixed the bagged stuff by hand, thinking it would be fine. It cost me about $300 in materials and a weekend of work before it started spiderwebbing. Anyone know a good method to fix this without a full tear-out?

3 comments

3 Comments

emmap161mo ago

Wire mesh is non-negotiable for a reason, it fights those tension cracks. You can try a concrete repair epoxy for the spiderwebs, but it's just a band-aid. The slab will likely keep moving and cracking without proper reinforcement underneath.

rosebennett1mo ago

Yeah, I learned that the hard way with my patio slab.

zarapalmer15d ago

And the thing is, epoxy might hold for a season or two but once water gets in through a new crack it'll just pop right off. Plus if you don't fix the underlying issue you're just throwing money at the symptoms. I've seen people spend more on repeated epoxy jobs than it would have cost to just rent a mixer and pour with mesh in the first place.