Concrete is incredibly more porous than you would think. Though it seems rock hard, it is actually full of millions of tiny cracks and pores.

Concrete can be damaged in any number of ways, but the most common damage occurs from the de-icing salts used by city snow plowing services and freeze/thaw cycles which occur quite often in Calgary during fall freeze-up and spring warming.

When this happens, salt can sneak into the small pores and tiny cracks in your concrete creating an acid-like reaction. Eventually larger and larger pockets are created that hold greater and greater amounts of water. It is the water that eventually causes all the damage.

Water expands up to 9X when frozen. The pressure from this expansion grows with each freeze and thaw until eventually it pops the surface of the concrete creating even larger cracks and the pitting you so often see in sidewalks and driveways.

Hardscapes Inc. has a number of solutions to this problem. Call 403-547-5597 or email sales@concretecanada.com for a FREE quote or for more information.