Concrete Maintenance Tips for Winter

Winters can get pretty frosty in Wichita, and when temperatures dip below freezing, your concrete surfaces take a real beating. Thankfully, concrete damage doesn’t have to be inevitable if you follow these easy concrete maintenance tips.

Looking for concrete repair in Wichita, KS? Give Arise Concrete Leveling a call now!

Remove Snow and Ice ASAP

When the chill of winter comes to Wichita, you’d rather cozy up by the fireplace than head outside to shovel snow and ice. We get it, but this is one temptation you ought to resist.

No thanks to freeze-thaw cycles, ice and snow do a serious number on your concrete. As snow melts, it can seep into tiny cracks in the concrete. Then, when it refreezes, the ice expands and makes the cracks even bigger.

To prevent this damage, get that snow off your sidewalks right away. Don’t use a metal shovel for snow removal, though, as the sharp steel blade can wreck the concrete. Stick with a duller plastic shovel instead.

Avoid De-Icing Salt Damage

De-icing salts promise speedy ice-removing results, but resist the urge to reach for this product when the next big winter storm comes to town. De-icers contain chemicals that break down ice quickly (hence the name), but those same chemicals also make it easy for water to infiltrate your concrete.

If you can’t use de-icer, are you stuck waiting for that ice to melt by itself? Nope! Sand, gravel, and even kitty litter break down ice without damaging your concrete.

Apply a Protective Sealant

Concrete maintenance pros often recommend applying a protective sealant for newly poured slabs, but if you nixed the idea the first time around, it’s not too late. Sealant can still be effective for older concrete slabs as well.

Sealant works by forming a protective layer over the concrete that prevents water from seeping in. That safeguards your concrete from the nasty effects of those aforementioned freeze-thaw cycles.

Speedy Crack Repair Is a Must

When you spot tiny cracks in your foundation, don’t ignore them. Over time, even the littlest cracks can balloon into unsightly craters. Eventually, your driveway will be a pockmarked mess if you don’t address the problem quickly.

You can use a polymer-based caulk to seal small cracks and prevent further water intrusion. Once you’ve done that, you’ll need to monitor the cracks regularly to make sure they’re not getting bigger. You’ll need to add more caulk as the earth shifts, which could happen every one to 10 years.

Has Your Concrete Buckled Under Winter’s Bite? Call Us for Concrete Repair!

Concrete may be tough, but it’s not undefeatable — cracks are its Achilles’ heel. Thankfully, by following the concrete maintenance tips above, you can ward off new cracks and keep existing ones from getting bigger.

If you’d like to learn what could cause your driveway to settle or need help fixing serious cracks in your concrete, you can count on Arise Concrete Leveling anytime. Give us a call at (316) 867-6565 to schedule service now.

What we offer

We are a family owned company

We are a family owned company in Wichita. Our team is dedicated to
providing cost effective repair solutions to home and business owners in the South Central Kansas area with settled concrete or soil stabilization problems. We offer state of the art technology to meet our customers’ needs by utilizing the best tools and materials available. We work hard to give our customers a great value and produce long lasting results. It is our goal to exceed expectations and industry standards.

DON’T REPLACE IT.LEVEL IT! THE SAME DAY.