ICRI

I am a member of the ICRI Carolinas Chapter. ICRI is the International Concrete Repair Institute. The Spring Conference was today. It covered the general topic of crack repairs. I am only generalizing what it was because it would be difficult for me to explain everything the speakers said.

Bob Trout with Lily Corporation spoke about crack injection. His company sells a wide variety of dispensing equipment. He talked about how air entrapment may not always be the problem that people think it is. He did not say that it is never a problem but he did point out Boyles Law.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyle

He also said it is more important when possible, to start at the widest part of the crack when injecting and inject until refusal. He also said that you need to do an air pressure check prior to injecting the epoxy. You do this because it allows you the opportunity to find leaks or unseen cracks prior to injection. This allows you the time to cover or butter the cracks with the appropriate product. Sometimes, it doesn't have to be a gel epoxy. If you fix these little problems ahead of time, you may save yourself the headache of having epoxy dripping down your wall at the wrong spot. Lily Corporation link is below.

http://www.lilycorp.com/

Brian J. Iske with Deneef talked about chemical crack injection and soil stabilization products. He showed a nice linear graph on tools to remove a hex head bolt. The tools were rated from, not recommended to best choice. Hammer and nail made the not recommended list, while the old appropriate socket wrench made the best choice list. The other tools fell in the middle. He said that is the same way you should look at crack repair. Each crack repair job is different and you need to make the right choice for your particular job. There is NO silver bullet for all crack repair jobs. His company sells many varieties of products for injections and repairs. Their link is below.

http://www.deneef.com/

The last to give a presentation was Jim Villar with Balvac. His presentation was a little over my head until I spoke with him after the presentation. It became much clearer then. His topic was "MMA Vac Injection." I listened to it trying to understand how the vacuum repair worked. No, it does not use a shop vac. The vacuum they use is much larger than anything you would ever find in household or construction use. Once it was explained how they get the chemical in there and how it is drawn in the area to be repaired, it all made sense. Balvac's link is listed below.

http://www.balvac.com/

If you are in the concrete repair business and you are not in the ICRI, I would suggest you take a look at it and join. If you are in the Carolinas, we would welcome you in this chapter. The ICRI has many chapters throughout the US and some outside the US. You can look at the ICRI Carolinas Chapter link below and then go to the ICRI National from there. The ICRI Carolinas website has many nice features and links. I have the link for that on the side of the blog and below.

http://www.icricarolinas.org/index.htm