Trip hazards can pop up overnight when the pressure from growing roots under the sidewalk becomes great enough to crack aging sidewalks. Typically, this happens at a control joint and causes a single panel of concrete to lift that can be ground down. If control joints are not present, concrete surfaces can crack in any direction and leave dangerous jagged cracks.
Property owners and managers need to keep a constant vigilant eye on their sidewalks to make sure the path of travel on their property is free of liabilities. Let us help you find all the trip hazards on your property with annual or biannual inspections to avoid trip and fall accidents
Our professional estimators provide free trip hazard estimates. They identify any raised area within the path of travel that meet or exceed ¼ inch in differential height to maintain ADA standards of barrier removal in the path of travel. While we are walking your property we will also point out any other areas of liability that need to be repaired including cracks that need to be sealed, control joints with rotted wood that need replacing or filling, and areas that need patching.
TRIP HAZARD SIDEWALK GRINDING
Unlike other concrete grinding companies, we make a tidy and uniform boxed area that we keep all the concrete grinding in. Our workers can grind trip hazards up to 2 inches in differential height and are ground to meet the ADA slope requirements.
Grinding is a much more preferred method of taking down a trip hazard than saw cutting because it leaves a textured surface that is nonslip, whereas saw cut concrete becomes extremely slippery when it gets wet. Don’t turn your trip hazards into slip Hazards!
SURFACE AREA GRINDING
If you are looking to create a non-slip surface or need the surface of your concrete slab or sidewalk removed to prep it, or make it level, we have you covered. Our grinders can remove up to 1/8 of an inch of concrete per pass and then the concrete can be resurfaced with other cementitious or epoxy compounds.
Surface area grinding is a more cost-effective way to resurface your concrete asset than it is to completely remove and replace a slab or sidewalk.
CONTROL JOINTS
If concrete slabs or sidewalks have improperly placed control joints, it can crack randomly leaving a jagged edge that is sharp when lifted and can catch a toe very easily. When those cracks are left untreated the concrete will start to break apart and lose its surface rocks making it even more dangerous.
As part of your property maintenance the lifted edges of the cracks should be taken down with a grinding wheel and widened with a crack chaser to make the cracked edge more uniform. This prevents the concrete from chipping and the crack should then be filled with a self-leveling sealant. We then dust the sealant with sand to blend it in, create some texture, and prevent the wet sealant from tracking around and making a mess if anyone steps in it.
EXPANSION JOINT FILLING
Many older properties have wooden expansion joints that rot out over time and leave one to two inch wide and four inch deep gaps. These are especially dangerous to women in heels and can easily break an ankle if your foot gets stuck in one.
We can replace an rotted out wooden joints with either treated wood that lasts longer or concrete if it is desired. We edge down all concrete joints to give it a beveled edge so that if it lifts it will not catch a toe as easily. This also gives it a nice aesthetic appearance.
CONCRETE PATCHING
When concrete is broken or marred in a small section it is often times more cost effective to patch it than replace the entire section. We use high quality patching compound that bonds well to existing cured concrete.
We specialize in saw cutting out old concrete, doweling to the existing concrete, forming the replacement area, and pouring a new patch. We can also float patches over sunken or uneven concrete to create a new and level nonslip surface.
