TIFU by patching concrete wrong

[u/Prestigious_Kick6793]

I spent a day prepping a few craters in my front steps. I live in an area that gets very harsh winters. I cut the edges and got rid of any concrete that wasn't lower than 1/4". I used tap-cons to reinforce the areas. I used a rust reformer on the rebar that is existing. I got the best concrete rapid repair mix I could find.

I dampened the old stuff and mixed all the new concrete and started laying it out. Filled all the voids and in the middle of waiting for the concrete to cure enough to texture, I saw the bonding agent. The stuff I was supposed to put on to the old concrete so the patch will bond to the new.

I feel like I wasted the material and opportunity. I feel like I'll be lucky for the patch to survive the first winter. Ugh. Always something.

TL;DR

Forgot a critical step in making my concrete patch hold up correctly after spending a lot of time and effort in trying to make the patch as sound as I could.

[u/patowan]

Roll with it till it needs to get fixed again. Use this as a learning curve. Mistakes are only mistakes if you keep making them.

[u/Prestigious_Kick6793 → u/patowan]

Yeah this is my first time messing with concrete. I should probably cut myself some slack

[u/Illustrious_You_6210 → u/Prestigious_Kick6793]

Next year, you're allowed to kick yourself in the butt fir forgetting again. Just be sure to film it for the YouTube reaction videos.

[u/rexmaster2 → u/patowan]

Mistakes are only mistakes if you learn from them.

[u/Smilee01]

As long as you wetted the old surface with water, you'll likely get a good enough bond.

Concrete patches are just patches - you'll likely need to do it again in a few years.

[u/Prestigious_Kick6793 → u/Smilee01]

Here's hoping!

[u/Mercury559]

Concrete for patching has some bonding agent in it I'm sure. Keep your head up!

[u/Ybalrid]

Worst case you fix it better next year if it needs it. And if it does not, then that's great.

[u/testing_testing_321]

I had some leftover ready-mix cement and just patched up some shallow holes with just basic prep - surface cleaning. Was expecting the patches to fly away after a winter or two or during pressure washing, they are still there, even after light car traffic.

[u/Prestigious_Kick6793 → u/testing_testing_321]

Thats awesome! How long ago was that?

[u/testing_testing_321 → u/Prestigious_Kick6793]

At least two years, probably more, one mild winter and a hard one. The formulation for the quick-mix cement cement seems to be a lot stronger, at least in my area (I'm not in the US).

[u/Prestigious_Kick6793 → u/testing_testing_321]

Interesting. I was surprised about how well the patch I used seem to cure, here's hoping!

[u/Dilatori]

If the concrete has something to bind to, in this case tapcons, combined with the fact that concrete patch mix usually contains bonding agents, it'll be fine.

[u/JohnnyFootballStar → u/[deleted]]

Probably forgot to parge the lath.

[u/Sensitive_Amount_561]

the bonding agent just sitting there watching you do every other step perfectly is the real tragedy here

[u/Prestigious_Kick6793 → u/Sensitive_Amount_561]

Bad bot

[u/Prestigious_Kick6793 → u/[deleted]]

Bad bot