Common Problems
Harsh Baltimore Winters are the cause of most damage to concrete sidewalks. Some of the damages from the Winter months include spalling or scalling concrete and/or cracking of concrete sidewalks.
When concrete sidewalk surfaces are saturated with water and temperature approaches freezing, water expands as it forms ice and this causes stresses within the concrete. Using deicing chemicals will exacerbate this by allowing the surface to become even more saturated, combined with the number of freeze/thaw cycles throughout the Winter. Air Entrained concrete is critical when pouring concrete sidewalks as this adds millions of tiny air bubbles to the concrete mix, allowing water to expand, when necessary, to prevent any potential stress buildup.
At F&M Contractors, we prevent the potential of scalling concrete sidewalks by using a good quality, air entrained concrete mix, followed by 40 years of good concrete sidewalk finishes practices and proper curing techniques.
Tree roots could also cause tripping hazards along concrete sidewalks and can be potentially dangerous to your family and guests.
These tree roots will need to be removed prior to pouring a new concrete sidewalk. It is best to contact your arborist if there is concern about impacting the trees health, prior to removing the roots. However, the general rule of thumb is to excavate roots up to 3-5 times the diameter away from the tree(exp. A tree with a 3 ft. wide diameter; we can excavate roots that are 9’ – 15’ away from the tree)
