Small Business Resources, Business Advice and Forms from AllBusiness.com

Scaled color layer. (Decorative Problem Clinic).

Q. I am a contractor in a freeze/ thaw climate. Last year we installed a stamped concrete driveway at a residence. This past spring I received a call from the homeowner telling me that the surface is scaling off his driveway. When I inspected it, I noticed that concrete from only one truckload

was scaling. We installed dry-shake coloring on this project and the scaled-off layer still had plain concrete attached to the colored layer. Why did this happen?

A. There was probably insufficient air entrainment in that load of concrete. Take some of the scales to a testing lab or a petrographer. A quick visual inspection of the sample using a microscope should reveal whether there is a low level of air entrainment. That evidence may be enough to resolve the matter with the ready mix company. If not, a core should be taken and a formal air entrainment study performed. If there isn't enough air entrainment to protect the concrete from freeze/thaw damage, it really doesn't matter what else may or may not have happened to the finished product.

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