- 1). Make the crack bigger if the crack already appears wider than about 1/4-inch. Chip away at the inside of the crack with a chisel and hammer, removing 1/8 to 1/4 inch of concrete with each strike until you reach a depth of roughly 1-inch. As you chip away at the crack, angle the tip of the chisel outward toward the cracks edges to make the crack wider at the bottom than the top.
- 2). Run your fingers around the inside of the widened crack when you finish chiseling to knock off bits of concrete that have come loose but have not come out of the crack. If you cannot fit your fingers in the crack, Aubuchon Hardware recommends a wire brush as an alternative. Use canned air to remove the rest of the concrete dust from the crack.
- 3). Coat the crack with bonding adhesive. Use the applicator provided with the adhesive and spread the amount of adhesive recommended on the adhesive packaging.
- 4). Fill the crack with concrete patch compound. Use a putty knife to spread the compound and force it down into the crack. Wipe the surrounding wall with a dry rag to remove any compound on the wall's surface. Let the filled crack dry for 3 or 4 hours.
- 5). Return to the filled crack to check the compound. If the compound has sunk deeper into the wall and no longer appears even with the wall's surface, spread more patch compound over the crack to fill it to the surface again. Wipe away the compound on the wall and allow it to dry for another 3 to 4 hours. Repeat as necessary until the crack sits even with the wall.
- 6). Put a piece of plastic over the crack and tape it down around the edges. Aubuchon recommends keeping the crack covered with plastic for 5 days and lifting the plastic once each day to moisten the patch with water. This makes the patch cure.
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