A lot of the repairs fell out from the joins, but they lasted 6 months! The main repairs right in the centre of the ramp didn’t need any work, they lasted really well.
But the rest of the ramp not so good, so it’s repair time again.
This time I got a wire brush to clean them out first.
Just for my own reference, just like Mike Anderson does in the video, it’s good to slice off the epoxy level with a blade. I did it real nice on that last pic. And I sort of saw-slice it, not push slice it through, if that makes sense? Otherwise the filler started pulling out.
I’m now maintaining The XC skatepark at Hemel and have to repair the pool coping pointing in the next month . This is what they used the first time round to set the coping .
It’s a polymer concrete mortar that sets super hard and can also be used for patch repairs.
For £45+ for a 24kg bag it sure will go a long way compared to sticks of epoxy .
You will need epoxy bonding adhesive for the new concrete to stick to the old. This is about £40 a small tub and can be painted on the freshly cleaned and prepared coping joints .
So if you’ve got a lot of coping to repair, this is probably going to be a better solution
Ah well yeah if it’s the odd small patch then epoxy putty is a good alternative. The chemical metal epoxy putty is harder if that’s available to you ? Should be able to get that from a local car Parts shop or online .
But yes , prep the surface of the concrete so it’s completely clean , ideally use some brick cleaning acid to get all the contaminants out , wash that out and then prep with the binding agent .
One of the locals was hassling me on how to repair the coping a few nights ago and he asked me the steps, so I gave them to him, together with pics of what he needed and how much it cost etc.
So he goes to the hardware store 3 mins before it closes and dm’s me a pic asking if what he got was correct - and he somehow thought that buying silicon window filler would do the trick(!).
I pointed out that this was wrong but now all the hardware stores were closed and now he had to try a big supermarket (which I’d seen the epoxy filler in), and this time he came back with 2 part epoxy metal adhesive.
I told him it was very unlikely to work as it was adhesive and not filler.
Silence.
Anyway I turn up to the park and he’s filled the end joints (only, thank god) with epoxy glue which of course hasn’t dried over 24 hours later and is dripping down the ramp.
Is brush applied clear coat better than rattle can job? In my head at least you could get it on thicker, obvs will take longer to dry. What you reckon @Chopper ?
They both need 24/48 hours at a warm room temperature to fully cure , it always Surprises me when people rock up with a can , spray the coping and 20 mins later start skating . The lacquer is still soft so essentially it’s wax in a can for that session and will be ground/worn away pretty easily.
You can speed up the layer process with cans by using a heat gun, a good 5 min blast then leave to cool for 10mins between layers . Do this as many time as you need to build up a thick coat , but again that will need a full 24/48 hours to cure hard .
You can use paint on enamel or acrylic clear coat , You’ll have to make sure it’s not slopped on so you don’t get spots that take longer to cure . Again it will need 24/48 hours depending on temp and number of coats .
Good old nail polish acetone will dissolve wax , so once you’ve scraped the main layers off use acetone with the wire brush so it can get into the concrete pours and clean out out .
Wax will always be a barrier to any porous surface if it’s not fully removed.
A mate of ours fixed all the cracks at our local curb spot and he’s done it so fucking well- and for way cheaper than using the metal leak putty stuff. Said he used fibreglass boat repair stuff- worked so well!
Yeah that’s good shit , very hard too. Just bear in mind, it’s also very brittle if it’s in a thin layer . So if you’re spreading it out and it’s thinner than 2mm it will start chipping if there’s a lot of impact .
