FALL TO SPRING
The Freeze-Thaw Checklist
What to check on garage decks, plant floors, balconies, sidewalks and brick from the first hard freeze to spring, and when to get repairs scoped so the work is ready when the weather allows.
FALL
Before the First Hard Freeze
Four things are worth doing on every deck and walkway before the first hard freeze.
- Seal open cracks and joints. Water that gets in now freezes and opens them wider all winter, and most sealants need dry weather above about 40 degrees to cure, so the window is short.
- Clear the deck drains. Standing water finds the cracks.
- Mark trip edges and broken concrete before snow covers them, so the plow crew steers around them.
- Photograph what you have now. In spring you can compare and see exactly what winter did.
Most facility teams and condo boards on a calendar year set next year's budget between fall and December. A concrete or masonry repair that misses that list waits a year, or gets paid for later as emergency work.
Before your budget closes, walk the property once. Look up at the garage ceiling. Check balcony edges, stairs, the sealant in the joints, and the brick above windows. Photograph anything cracked, rust-stained, loose, or leaking.
WINTER
Plows, Salt and Dock Doors
Winter is the best time to find concrete damage. It is the worst time to fix it. Salt and freeze-thaw open every weak spot on a deck or a sidewalk. Cracks are at their widest in the cold. Loose concrete gives itself away.
Plows do a lot of damage to garage decks and plazas, and most of it is avoidable. Settle four things with your plow contractor before the first storm.
- Use a rubber or poly cutting edge on the blade. A steel edge gouges the surface and catches every joint.
- Lift the blade over expansion joints, because that is where a plow catches the seal and tears it loose, and a torn seal lets salt water into the deck for the rest of the winter.
- Move snow off the deck instead of piling it there. Piles sit for weeks. The meltwater runs straight into the cracks.
- Keep salt off new repairs their first winter. Fresh concrete needs time before it can take deicer.
Winter also comes in through the dock doors. Slush and road salt ride in on every truck tire and forklift wheel, and they land on the floor just inside the doors. That salt water soaks into open joints and works under worn coating, and the first stretch of floor inside the doors is often where the damage starts.
Scrub that area through the season. Keep the joints near the doors filled, because open joints break down under forklift traffic. Watch the coating in the turn lanes, and mark worn spots so they are on the spring list.
LATE WINTER
Get It Scoped in February
Walk the property while the damage is easy to see and photograph what you find, then get it scoped and priced, line by line, in February, so the work is ready to start when the weather allows, which around Chicago usually means April.
SPRING
Walk It Again Before People Are Out
Compare what you see against your fall photos. That shows you exactly what winter did.
- Walk the balconies before people are out on them. Check every railing post, not just the worst one. Bubbling or flaking paint at the base comes first. Rust stains running down the edge of the slab and cracks spreading out from the post come later. A railing that moves at the base is past the warning stage. Keep people off that balcony until someone checks it. (What rust at a railing post means)
- Walk your sidewalks once the snow is gone. Look for joints where one slab sits higher than the next, and for slabs that rock when you step on them. Mark them before spring foot traffic picks up. (What a lifted slab means)
Send the photos and the address to info@ccrs-services.com. You will get a straight answer, including whether it needs work at all.
Email your photosCONTACT
Tell Us What Is Failing. We Will Come Look.
Send a few photos, the address, and what you are seeing. We will assess it and come back to you with a straight answer, including whether it is worth fixing at all.
info@ccrs-services.com