Benefits of Using A Salt Protector on Your Driveway

tk salt protector plus, tk salt protector, colorado salt protector, denver salt protector, salt blocking materialThere are several reasons we recommend using a salt protector on your driveway in Colorado.  The most obvious is protecting your concrete from expensive or unrepairable damage to your concrete.  In Colorado, we need to protect our driveways from the mag chloride put on the roads and highways from the county plow trucks.  With a salt protector applied to concrete, you don't have to worry about dangerous de-icing materials ruining your concrete and ultimately causing spalling and deterioration. 

We recommend using TK Salt Protector Plus to protect your investment without changing the appearance.

TK’s Salt Protector Plus is a ready-to-use,  low VOC, penetrating, silane/siloxane blend.  This product is engineered to prevent damage from de-icing agents, salts, and freeze damage. Salt Protector Plus is formulated to penetrate and protect residential concrete and masonry surfaces. 

Salt Protector Plus is suitable for both vertical and horizontal surfaces such as:

  • Driveways
  • Sidewalks & Curbs
  • Patios & Porches
  • Pool Decks
  • Garages
  • Retaining Walls
  • Barn or shop floors
When to Place Salt Protector on Driveway?
We spray a salt protector on every new driveway that we pour.  After we clean up a driveway project, we will wait an additional 30 days to allow full cure time.  Once concrete has properly dried out, we clean the service and spray on two even layers of the product.  It is very important to allow proper cure time of the concrete before spraying on your salt protector.  Denver Concrete will follow all necessary steps placing this salt protector so your concrete is protected 3-4 years.

Read More

Strengthening Products in Concrete

Rebar Grid in new DrivewayReinforcement Bar (Rebar) and WWM (Wire Mesh) as-well-as Fiber and Admixtures

Compressive Strength

Concrete has exceptional compressive strength, the capacity to support tremendous sums of weight. Compressive strength is the amount of pressure required to crush concrete. As a simple rule of thumb, the greater the sum of aggregate in a concrete mix, the greater the compressive strength.

Tensile Strength

Relative to the compressive strength, the tensile strength of concrete is significantly less. Tensile strength is a measure of the chemical bond strength between the cement, aggregate and sand in a concrete mix, the amount of force required to pull concrete apart.

Concrete tensile strength is a measure of how well concrete stays glued together under torqueing, bending and twisting pressure.

It is because of concrete’s weak tensile strength that it must be reinforced with reinforcement bar (rebar) or wire mesh. Weak tensile strength is also the reason concrete additives like fiber and potash are used to supplement concrete mixes.

As such, it is as important to understand reinforcing materials as it is to understand concrete mix ratios.

Essentials of Rebar

Rebar is the most common reinforcing material and provides the most strength in concrete. The reinforcement potential of rebar is determined by the size of the rebar; the type of rebar; and the spacing of the rebar.

Read more ...

Acid Staining Concrete Not Just for Interior Floors

Acid Stained ConcreteStaining concrete is becoming one of the most popular applications for interior floors in homes, offices, restaurants and other public buildings.  Acid stained concrete is an affordable application that requires very little maintenance so it is easy to understand why more and more people are starting to stain concrete outdoors.  It is affordable, low maintenance, you can stain an exisiting slab and the color scheme is endless.  

Our company has started to stain patios, garage floors, outdoor kitchen areas and even some driveways.  We are seeing more and more people wanting to put added detail into their outdoor living space and acid staining is a great way to do it. 

What is Acid Staining?

Acid staining uses a chemical stain mixture of hydrochloric acid, acid soluble metallic salts and water.

Read more ...

Should I Tear out My Own Concrete or Hire A Professional?

concrete removal services(Clements) driveway project; concrete removal and new pour in Parker, COWhen we are on our concrete appointments, we get asked all the time - "would it save us money if I tore out the exisiting concrete or asphalt myself?"

The answer is short is yes, it would save you money on your project.  What it wont save you is time. 

Most concrete companies charge very little to do the concrete removal to earn your business.  We are able to tear-out, haul away and dispose in a fraction of the time a home owner typically can.  We have all of the equipment needed and we know exactly what needs to be removed so we can set the forms and pour your new concrete.  Often times a homeowner will remove the concrete and we will still need to go in and remove dirt, regrade or other prep work to get the area ready. 

Read more ...