The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
First Aid For The Ailing Houses
A mixture suitable for patching jobs is 1 part cement, 3 parts sand, with only enough water to make a stiff but workable mixture which can be spread smoothly with a trowel. Portland-cement patching mortar, ready-mixed with sand, is available in 1-pound and larger packages at hardware and other stores. It should not be confused with patching plaster, which is intended only for patching plaster walls and ceilings.
A crack in a garden pool can be filled by opening it, undercutting the sides, and packing with the patching mixture.
A leak due to porous or thin walls and floor can be closed by applying a new surface of the same mixture, the old surface first being roughened by gouging it with a cold chisel or chisel-headed hammer. For extensive leaks, the old surface can first be brushed with liquid asphalt or tar, the new concrete surface being poured on top. In both cases the pool should be filled as soon as the new concrete is set in order that maximum density may be obtained by thorough curing.
Cracks in a sidewalk or drive will usually be due to improper drainage; the earth will heave, as a result of freezing and thawing of water that collects beneath the concrete.
Cracking may also be due to a failure to fill and pack soft places underneath, before the concrete was laid. Another cause is concreting a large area in a single sheet, without expansion joints to take up expansion and contraction. Such basic faults as these require relaying the walk or drive or garage floor after the correction of the trouble.
A crack in a foundation wall, due to unequal settling of the house, should not be repaired until after settling has ended. The crack should then be cut out from both sides and solidly packed with the patching mixture.
Another patching compound which works well in cracks and breaks is epoxy resin. Such materials, Masonweld, for example, may be mixed with up to 70 per cent of their volume of clean, perfectly dry sand to make a patching compound that will bond permanently with both sides of the crack. The patch will withstand hard wear, for it will be as tough as the concrete around it.
THERE ARE TWO TYPES of brick generally used for construction and repair around the house. The most widely used is the "common" brick of a salmon-red color. This type of brick is available in three grades. Grade H (hard) common brick is designed for extra weathering or where the brick will be in continuous contact with earth or moisture.
