Are these concrete cracks too wide to fill with caulk?

June 03, 2020, 09:44 PM

Captain Morgan

Looks like your expansion joints rotted out.
Mason supply yards sell plastic expansion joints. They are two pieces. The top snaps into the bottom. Anyway use the top only and bang it into the gap. You may have to shave off the tabs but you want a snug fit.
I have done this before and it worked out well.

June 04, 2020, 09:48 AM

nhtagmember

lets keep in mind that the OP is located in Utah where they can experience wide temperature swings from snow/ice in winter and elevated temperatures in summer.

I would be wary of putting any material in the joint that will interfere with the expansion/contraction of the individual segments

if you're heart set on filling the joint I'd suggest a non-rigid flexible caulk

June 04, 2020, 10:07 AM

erj_pilot

Thanks for posting about this, 4x5...I've been meaning to do research on this for my driveway area.

I'm down here in Houston, so of course it's hot and humid 75% of the time and then cool and pleasant the other 25%. I share a common drive with the townhouses behind me, and that's the access to our garages...garages face each other. Most of the wood strips between the squares of concrete have rotted/broken away leaving a 3/4" to 1" gap. What is recommended to fill those voids?

I wouldn't care (but I do

), and every year or so, I power wash my "driveway" area and the area of some of my elderly neighbors. When I hit those cracks with 4,000psi, mud/dirt flies everywhere, especially all over me. Given our climate, can those areas be filled with some type of caulking? TIA!!

"If you’re a leader, you lead the way. Not just on the easy ones; you take the tough ones too…” – MAJ Richard D. Winters (1918-2011), E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil... Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel." - Isaiah 5:20,24

June 04, 2020, 10:41 AM

smschulz

quote:
Originally posted by craigcpa:
quote:
Originally posted by mark60:
Backer rod with Sika Flex on top will work well.

My thoughts as well.

Yes agree, I have done this with my driveway.