As any homeowner will tell you, dealing with the coming and going of the seasons and their effect on concrete surfaces is a never-ending dance. Even if you live in San Antonio, with its long, oppressive summers and short, mild winters, you have to take special precautions with your concrete surfaces as the seasons change to prevent any lasting damages that will lead to costly repairs.
Concrete is known for being a durable, reliable material that can last for decades, but it’s also not immune to the passage of time and the changing of the seasons. So, what preemptive measures should you take to care for your concrete? Take a look at these seasonal concrete care tips for concrete maintenance that will keep your driveway, patio, and any other concrete surfaces looking as good as if they were poured yesterday. Keep these marked on your calendar!
Seasonal Concrete Maintenance Checklist
Spring Concrete Maintenance
As spring once again rolls in over San Antonio, the temperature through March-May starts out nice but gradually increases, so your concrete maintenance should adapt accordingly.
Here’s the concrete maintenance checklist for spring.
Check For New Cracks That Formed During Winter And Fill Them
While San Antonio doesn’t have much of a “freeze cycle,” temperatures do drop low enough during winter nights (sometimes below freezing) that you can expect some notable contraction and expansion when the sun comes up. Methodically inspecting the full extent of your property and all its concrete surfaces will help you identify new cracks that need to be filled, preventing them from getting worse.
Keep Your Landscaping Level With Your Concrete
Soil erosion around your concrete surfaces can cause the latter to become subdued and, consequently, to crack. Make sure to add new soil to any gaps that appear between your landscaping and concrete surfaces to prevent this; not only is it good landscaping in general, but it will also protect your concrete.
Be Mindful Of The Jet Force When Power Washing
City ordinances prohibit power washing concrete covers when there are drought restrictions in place. However, homeowners are still tempted to do some power washing as part of their spring cleaning when it’s allowed. If you’re going to power wash your concrete surfaces, make sure to use medium-pressure jets only, as anything stronger than that can degrade the concrete and cause the ground underneath to become waterlogged.
Check For Sinking Or Heaving Slabs
However minimal, fluctuating temperatures in winter and spring can cause the soil beneath your concrete slabs to expand and contract. What follows is that the slabs themselves will either sink or heave with the soil, so it’s important to check for any slabs that are not level with the others and take appropriate measures.
Summer Concrete Maintenance
Any San Antonio resident knows just how hot summers can be in this part of Texas. However, while many hunker down with the AC on full blast, your concrete surfaces stay right outside, taking in all that summer sun, so preemptive measures must be taken. Here’s the checklist for summer maintenance.
Seal Your Concrete Surfaces
Now that it’s unlikely that you’ll see any major rain or humidity, and after filling up any cracks that started to form last season, it’s the perfect time to seal your concrete using a high-quality sealer.
This will protect your concrete surfaces from suffering from moisture stains or water damage during the coming seasons. It’s possible you won’t even have to do this every summer, so you’re giving fewer chores to future you!
Check Your Pool For Leaks
If you have a pool, summer is the season where it’s going to see the most action. Therefore, it’s a good idea to check for any leaks around your pool and, if you do find any, have it repaired immediately to prevent the soil from becoming flooded (or worse, eroded) and causing the concrete on top to sink or heave. It’s also a good idea to check if the water that overflows from your pool has proper drainage, as this can also cause problems around concrete surfaces.
Protect Your Concrete Surfaces From Direct Sunlight
Using an overhead cover is a fantastic way of protecting your concrete patio from the harsh sun during the summer months. An outdoor carpet can double as protection for your concrete surface from the sweltering heat while also helping you stay cool when standing on it. There are many options, such as fabrics or fake grass, but if you don’t like the idea of covering your concrete directly, you’ll have to at least consider other ways of providing shade; strategically placed patio umbrellas, trees, and awnings are some of your options.
Fall Concrete Maintenance
Considering how the fall season usually is in San Antonio, you could consider it a buffer season to prepare your concrete for winter. Make sure that your preemptive measures applied in past seasons are still holding strong and that you’re keeping your concrete surfaces clean and cared for.
Do Another Thorough Check For Cracks
Anything worth doing once is worth doing twice, and doing a double-check for new cracks in your concrete is absolutely worth it. Now that the cooler season is coming, take the time to inspect your property once again to check for any new cracks (or ones that you missed during your spring inspection). If there are any new gaps or small cracks, use caulk and sealant to prevent them from getting worse when the temperature changes during winter.
Keep Your Concrete Free From Leaves And Debris
If there are any trees on your property that are the type to shed their leaves during fall, make sure to clean them off your concrete surfaces regularly, as they can cause staining or hold onto moisture that degrades concrete.
Maintain Your Pavement Joints
The intense San Antonio summer heat can weaken pavement joints due to them being constantly expanded. Now that a contraction period is to follow, it’s a good idea to make sure that each section of your pavement surface is still in one piece and properly connected to the adjacent one. This will keep your surfaces stable and prevent them from sliding off or sinking. If you do notice weak or cracked spots, have a professional inspect and repair the area before winter.
Winter Concrete Maintenance
Winters in San Antonio might not be the longest or coldest out there, but it does bring about enough significant changes that a homeowner will want to be prepared for. Due to cold fronts coming from the north, about a dozen or so subfreezing nights can be expected per year. This causes a low but not insignificant amount of contraction and expansion to occur.
Make Sure You Have Proper Drainage
While rains are not overly abundant in San Antonio proper, the fact that the city lies just on the outskirts of hill country means that it occasionally gets some of that runoff, causing floods in some areas. Having proper drainage around your property will at least minimize the damage done to the soil and concrete surfaces in your home.
Check For Damaged Caused By Roots And Trees
Winter is as good a time as any to inspect for concrete lifting caused by any stray roots on your property. It might be necessary to take some drastic measures if you find root penetration, such as trimming the tree or, in the worst-case scenario, completely removing it.
Shovel Snow Off Concrete (If It Ever Snows)
Okay, we know it’s kind of a stretch, but on the very rare occasion that snow falls over San Antonio, make sure to remove it from the concrete to keep it dry. This will avoid many of the problems we’ve been talking about throughout this article, such as staining, water damage, and cracks caused by temperature drops.
Call Xpert Foundation Repair for Concrete Maintenance and Fixes
Even if you managed to be a good homeowner and keep that concrete in top shape all year round with season concrete care tips like these, no doubt you’ll bump into a few more serious problems in the future. Or maybe that crack you see after winter is just too big to fill in with caulk or leveling cement.
Call the Xpert Foundation Repair team to get a free quote and fast estimate for any concrete needs at any time of the year.
