Concrete is the most popular construction material in the world, and for good reason. It’s especially common in commercial buildings, not only for basements and foundations but also for exterior walls. And of course, it’s used frequently for sidewalks, ramps, and parking garages.

Specialty coatings can be applied to buildings, sidewalks, parking garages, and many other structures for a variety of reasons. In some cases, the coatings make cleanup easier, whether you’re cleaning up dirt, grime, grease, or graffiti. Other coatings can help provide a more non-slip surface or clear markings for pedestrian walkways. Still others prevent water penetration from damaging buildings.

Tuckpointing is the process of removing the old mortar from a brick wall, cleaning the area, and then filling new mortar between the bricks. Typically, any brick building that’s more than about 20 years old will start to need tuckpointing.

Concrete is a pretty remarkable manmade material that’s extremely durable over time. It’s used in sidewalks, buildings, roads, and bridges. Those are impressive structures made from a material that starts out as water, cement, and aggregate (rock or other small particles).

Water is sneaky. It seeps into cracks and crevices in your building and can cause serious damage over time. As water travels through those cracks and crevices, it wears away more of the surface and allows even more water to infiltrate. Before you know it, you have some serious leaks that are causing damage.

Parking garages take a lot of wear and tear from vehicles, people, and the environment. Cars and trucks bring dirt, grease, and other grime into the garage where it begins to collect on the parking and walking surfaces. People leave behind trash and liquids that accumulate against walls and further adds to the grime on the parking surface.

Joint sealing is an important maintenance and upkeep task for commercial buildings, parking garages, and concrete surfaces. Anywhere that two pieces of material come together creates a joint, whether that’s sections of a concrete exterior of a building, sections of a parking garage floor, or sections of a concrete sidewalk.

Sandblasting can be a great way to clean a variety of surfaces, but a lot of people wonder if sandblasting will damage a building. The answer is…

Many years ago, buildings were primarily built with stone. But stone is heavy, must be transported long distances, and must be cut to size from a larger piece of stone. With the invention of concrete in 1849 came the ability to create building blocks of different sizes and shapes at the building location rather than hauling stone to the site.