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Concrete expansion joints are important for your sidewalk or driveway. Keeping your joints watertight will prevent moisture from seeping under concrete pads and causing them to heave or sink. This post shares how to accomplish this task. The purpose of a concrete expansion joint is to allow the pads to expand and contract (get bigger and smaller) with temperature & humidity changes.

If you’ve got kids think of the expansion joint as yourself and the concrete pads as your children- queue memory of standing between two kids as they try to tear each other apart. Well, this is how I feel sometimes with my daughters (is it bad if I view myself as an expansion joint that buffers arguments about clothes, food, and hair?). Protecting and repairing a concrete expansion joint is super easy. And it’s far cheaper to do this weekend project than it is to hire a contractor to replace a severely damaged concrete driveway or sidewalk. Here are the supplies you’ll need • • • • Acetone • (you’ll need several) • • • • (this works way better than the blade I used here) • These Amazon affiliate links help support HRTthank you for using them This supply list may sound intimidating because of the angle grinder. But what better time to begin using one of these awesome tools, and they can be very affordable. So let’s get started and seal your concrete expansion joint so it’s protected from the effects of weather!

Removing Old Material from a Concrete Expansion Joint Concrete expansion joints are also known as isolation joints. Like I said in the intro these joints allow concrete pads to expand and contract during freeze-thaw cycles. Without a concrete expansion joint your sidewalk or driveway would crack. If you look at the expansion joints between your concrete you might see black felt or old sealant. Old sealant and worn out felt needs to be removed. When I called Sika, the company that makes the self-leveling sealant for this kind of project, they told me to use a utility knife to remove old material and clean off any remaining residue with acetone.

If you do this step, make sure the Acetone flash dries (Sika said to wait about 1 hour). You could give this utility knife technique a try. But I found that the people who owned our house applied a layer of new sealant over an old layer.

And I had a true hot mess because both sealants were pulling away from the concrete. If you’re in the same predicament, using an angle grinder with a standard cutting wheel is the way to go. Sure, neighbors might think you’re a bit crazy. But they also will think twice about sending their kids over for fundraisers (which could be a good thing if they’re selling wrapping paper or other stuff, bad if they’re offering Girl Scout cookies). Yes, the angle grinder is an extra purchase but you can get one cheaper than a pair of running shoes. And if you’re only going to use the grinder for one project you could resell it on Craigslist (in case you haven’t heard of Craigslist check it out here ). In my example I had to cut through two layers of old sealant.

The angle grinder cutting wheel had to penetrate about 1/2 to 1 inch down through the sealant layers. You should also remove any old foam backer rod that is beneath the sealant (I’ll explain what this is in the next section). The concrete joint doesn’t have to be perfectly clean for the new sealant. And old sealant that’s left behind after you use the angle grinder will be pretty well adhered to the concrete and won’t interfere with the new sealant’s bonding capacity. Loose sealant on the edge of the expansion joint can be scraped off with your utility knife.

This step is perhaps the most important one. It’s definitely the most time-consuming. Make sure you wear safety glasses and protective gloves since the cutting wheel sparks a bit when it occasionally touches the concrete. Here’s a short video to give you an idea of what needs to be done to remove old sealant from a concrete expansion joint. Prepping Your Concrete Expansion Joint for Sealant If you’re as nerdy as me when it comes to remodeling you may have wondered what the heck that rubber stuff is between concrete pads or walkways. It’s okay if you’ve never had this thought, this means you’re normal and the rest of us DIYers are at risk of tripping over ourselves while pondering such questions.

The stuff that looks like rubber is a self-leveling sealant. The brand you can find at the local store here in the states is called Sikaflex Self-Leveling Sealant (here’s a link to the product description on Sika’s website ) Sikaflex can be used to seal horizontal expansion joints. It’s a great product because it remains permanently flexible, dries quickly, sticks to anything, is self-leveling, and highly resistant to weather conditions. You should apply Sikaflex when the temperature is between 40F-100F.

The ideal temperature is in the middle of this range because the joint will be less likely to be fully contracted or expanded. Sikaflex will be tack free in 1 to 2 hours and fully cured in 3 to 5 days. I didn’t drive on it for 5 days. Who wants tires tracks of sealant on their driveway (not me and I certainly don’t want to explain this to my wife).

Also, make sure rain isn’t in the forecast for 24 hours. After removing all the old sealant use a vacuum or wet/dry vac to suck up any debris from your concrete joints. Then use a closed cell foam backer rod in between the joints.

Foam backer rods act to fill in space between concrete joints so you don’t need to use a ton of self-leveling sealant. Here’s a BIG TIP: the diameter of the backer rod should be 1/8 inch larger than the width of your concrete expansion joint.

This will ensure a water tight seal. Push the backer rod down into the joint with your hand. The depth of the joint should be a minimum of 1/4 inch and a maximum of 1/2 inch below the concrete pads. This means the backer rod should be this far below the concrete pad surface. If your joint is wider than the backer rod you can twist two stands together like rope. Here’s a Second BIG TIP: double-check the backer rod sits beneath the surface of the concrete pad. Otherwise you’ll have a little hump that develops when you apply the sealant.

And yes, I’m speaking from experience 🙁 By the way, the backer rod can be found in the same section as the concrete supplies at the hardware store. Keep Your Concrete Expansion Joint Watertight and Crack Resistant with Sikaflex Sealant Gather all your old socks and a few worn out T-shirts. You’ll need them as rags (don’t whine about using your old Pink Floyd concert shirt, nobody thinks you’re cool if you wear it to the mall in 2000 whatever. Hey, I love Pink Floyd but seriously, if you’re reading this you’re probably old enough to know they aren’t touring anytime soon). Sikaflex self-leveling sealant comes in two size tubes. The large tube is 29 fluid ounces and the small tube is 10 fluid ounces.

If you have a huge concrete expansion joint to fill I highly recommend the 29 fl oz tube. You’ll have to buy a large caulking gun but this will save you a ton of time. Here’s a Third BIG TIP: Think about how many tubes you need then BUY twice as many. Again, talking from experience here. It’s so much easier to buy a ton of sealant then return what you don’t use. With the backer rod in place you can cut the Sikaflex tube so that it will make a 1/4 inch bead.

You might be tempted to cut the tube bigger but don’t. Once the sealant starts flowing it can be hard to stop and a bigger bead means you’ll have to work faster. Not to mention, but I will anyway, the huge potential mess you might have. Visualize sealant on your pants, hands, shoes, hair. Pierce the seal inside the tube with an old wire hanger, the kind you get from the dry cleaners.

Place the tube in your caulking gun and pretend you’re Dirty Harry. Just kidding.

This step is unnecessary and only meant to make you feel cool (which you are of course). Squeeze the Sikaflex sealant into the concrete expansion joint and allow it to flow & self-level itself. Add more Sikaflex where it’s needed. Your concrete expansion joint is now watertight and way more unlikely to crack. In case you’re more into watching than reading here’s a video showing you what to expect when using Sikaflex What’s Next Sikaflex is like Vitamin C for expansion joints. The watertight seal will protect the joint from inclement weather and add longevity to your concrete driveway or sidewalk.

Hope you got some great tips today. Add your comments and questions down below. Thanks for reading, watching and making this the best DIY community on the web!! If you didn’t know, we have online classes for homeowners doing a DIY bathroom remodel. They’re affordable, step-by-step and awesome for newbies. Great question Ed. Honestly, I’m not sure what to do with concrete control joints.

One thing’s for sure, I wouldn’t backfill them with backer rod. Just leave them the way they are. But what should be done with a crack that gets wider within the control joint itself?

If it were me, I’d fill in the crack just enough to seal it (with something like SikaFlex which can be bough at home stores). But I wouldn’t fill up the control joint.

Let me know if you feel like this isn’t a great answer. Isolation joints and control joints are a bit different in their makeup.

And as such, need to be treated differently too. Jeff, My daughter’s home in North Carolina is three years old.

The home is on a hill so the driveway has a decline down to the street. There are channels (maybe called sore joints, definitely not expansion joints) that have cracks in them (both directions, up/down and across). When it rains, sand rises up through the cracks and settles at the bottom of the driveway. The builder has filled the cracks twice with a caulk type product. One month after each application of caulk, the caulk cracks then allows sand to escape again. Any suggestions? This is a good DIY procedure!

I am in the middle of doing this job on my driveway and can add a couple of things based on hard experience: 1. The best reason for installing backer rod is so the self leveling sealant doesn’t ooze through the void. When it does, there will be bubbles that look like grey acne in the job and sections will sink and look quite ugly. This can lead to “3 point bonding” & a failed job. Dam up the ends if the joint is even slightly sloped. Self Leveling sealant will ooze out of either end.

Tape will work as a dam on clean surfaces. Sealant Engineering Co.

Offers an adhesive backer rod (“Seafoam”) in various widths and thicknesses that works well in shallow joints. It helps prevent the backer rod from floating up, making unsightly humps. Sealant Engineering offers “Low Modulus” silicone products that are supposed to be free of the UV problems on polyurethane (hardening, cracking).

I’ll be trying it. Sealant Eng also has 1/4″ triangular, adhesive backed backer rod for use at the driveway / foundation junction. This is supposed to give the joint flexibility if reg backer rod can’t be used. I will let you know. I just did my expansion joints with backer road and Sikaflex. Prep was the big job.

Now I am looking at the “control joints” which of course have cracks in them. They look kind of dumb with the nice grey sikaflex expansion joints. So I was wondering about sweeping some loose sand into the cracks in the joints and adding sikafex without backer which would not work as the joints are not that wide or deep.

Any thoughts? Sikaflex is too thin and would probably run thru the un-stoppered (sand filled) cracks.

Hey Dave, I spoke with another friend about this exact issue. It’s good that there are cracks in the control joint because that indicates they’re doing their job (keeping the cracks confined to the joint and not the concrete pad). Prep indeed stinks for expansion joints. Does the sand fill in the small cracks within the control joint? This fix also is more aesthetic than anything.

I’ve noticed several instances where control joints are simply left alone and the expansion joint is filled in with something like SikaFlex. It sounds like you’d prefer the joints to kind of “match” each other (I totally understand your preference because I’d probably want the same look).

However, if the project is a pain in the butt then maybe living with the control joints the way they are isn’t too bad. Before you do anything give Sika’s technical service department a call and ask them for their opinion. They are AWESOME and won’t steer you wrong. Here’s the number 248-577-0020 Ask them about your sand idea. I’d think that would work and you could always test it out on a small section of the control joint (like 12 inches). That way, if it didn’t work and the SikaFlex ran through you wouldn’t have to remove a ton of it. Hope this helps a bit.

Thanks for the reply. I understand about the purpose of control jointsto crack where you want it to! Not large cracks. Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard Product Key Generator. I have one long center joint with the Sikaflex and two lateral ones (one at the garage and one on the pads (10). It looks really nice now.

No caverns and no weeds! But like you said it is the aesthetics of those unfilled control joints that bother me.

It would probably only take one or two big tube of Sikaflex to fill them as they are only 1/2-5/8″ deep “V” grooves cut with a tool when wet and having a smoothed border. You know the look. I was going to ask my neighbor about the idea of the control jointshe is the chief PA Dot bridge engineer for W.

PA and he works with this sort of stuff on a big scale. He did his driveway 5 years ago and it appears he did the control joints too. I will call Sikaflex on Monday. I filled one with sane and swept most of it away.

There is also a concrete crack filler at HD with a squeeze bottle that does fill cracks I think) but it may be too runny as well. I need 1/16 backer rod (LOL) so maybe I could use wet spaghetti! My daughter is an Architect and she specifies backer rod all the time but doesn’t ever recall 1/16. Thanks for writing back so quick. I’m waiting the 5 days now to drive over the joints. To help you visualize my driveway is 22 X 50″ Long, two lanes and 5 panels on each side. Jeff, My story is a long one.

I purchased my home in 1991. I have approx. 1400 sq ft of patio and a 24,000 gallon pool. We originally had Astro turf(yuk).

We replaced it and the wooden expansion joints. The EJ’s were replaced with PVC and looked great at first but after a couple of years started to fail by sinking and holding dirt. My EJs go all the way down to the earth. Some are normal size some have grown wider and deeper. I thought about the SLAB GASKET material but there’s no “One size fits all”. SO I’m trying the SL QuikCrete product and it seems like I will probably need and 18 wheeler load. Are there larger diameter backer rod material?

In my case it would bigger the better. Can you give a guy some direction? Thanks in advance, Keith Himmel. Great tutorial, big fan of DIY and just starting to get into house stuff and you are very thorough! Will definitely subscribe 🙂 I have a sort of dumb rookie question that I seem to not be able to find on the Sika PDFs about the product (so I will apologize ahead of time) but what exactly is the dry time for Sika Cement Fix?

We just used this to seal some cracks in the shower and some members of the family have been itching to shower now! It’s been about 28 hours now and I read somewhere that it needs 72 if we are planning to paint (we are not). Is that enough time? You can use foam backer rod Sherry to fill the depth. I’d just get a backer rod that’s a bit wider than your gaps.

That way you only have to place the backer rod so that it’s maybe 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch below your slabs. Then you can fill in the gap using Sika Flex self leveling sealant. I don’t know the answer to the pooling issue. You could put in a skirt drain that runs the length of the garage but that requires some work & money 🙁 Maybe someone else has a better suggestion. Darn workmanship, it can be good or bad. Hi JeffI read your article & all comments.

You’re so cute! I priced all this stuff out 4 yrs.

Ago and it was too expensive for me to do my old 75yr old drivewayso I know it would cost even more now. My solution was to buy black asphalt patch in pourable jug and pour that in my humungous expansion joint gaps which are in some places close to 2 inches wide and VERY deep.

I pulled out all the old rotted wood where I could. I haven’t done this project yet but what do you think about using the material? I can’t afford $400 for foam rod & copious amount of tube sealant. Besides since my concrete is so old & beat up the cost for those items seems silly.

Let me know what you think Jeff! I bought the jugs when they were on sale.if it works the whole double drive will have cost me about $25 tops to repair the joints! Xoxo Rachel the HandyWoman. Thanks Nelson for letting me know.

The most important part of applying self-leveling sealant is to remove all the old material before putting down the new sealant. Otherwise, the new sealant will not adhere correctly. I know this firsthand because the prior applied self-leveling sealant directly on top of the old material.

Now I’m in the same predicament as you! So my suggestion is to remove all the old material/new material and start over. Use an angle grinder to cut out the old material and mineral spirits to clean off the concrete.

Then apply the new self-leveling sealant. I really like your concrete joint sealer DIY and how it contains both written and video instructions. We are buying a 50 year old home where the garage floor has settled several inches and is grading toward the foundation. The concrete slab itself is in good shape without lots of cracks so on its own doesn’t need to be replaced right away. There is a seam between the garage floor and the foundation as the garage floor is not part of the main footprint. I was wondering if as a temporary solution (for a few years until the slab would need to be replaced) sealing this seam would work to prevent moisture from seeping into the seam with the foundation.

Where we live it gets snowy in the winter and all that moisture ends up falling off our cars onto the garage floor Thanks for your advice! 2 x 4 wooden forms, expansion joints or plywood forms, Maybe they are all the same, really don’t know. But they were left in the concrete in the garage of my south carolina home.

I am now smelling mildew. Descargar Discografia Cypress Hill Completa. I think it’s coming from this wood thats stuck in the cement thats all around the the edging of concrete. This is upsetting me very much.

I believe when i lived in N Y this wood was always removed from the cement when the job was done. Is the same thing done in a garage as you are explaining for driveway fixings.

Hey Jeff, I just used the self-leveling sealant in the expansion joints of my driveway. Part of the driveway is on a slight slope, causing more sealant to move down the joint toward the bottom of the slope before curing. The results, some of the sealant cured in a bead above the surface of the driveway. In fact, there’s a half-dollar size pool of cured sealant at the bottom of the slope. Do I need to do anything with the sealant that cure in the joint with a bead above the driveway surface, or will the seal remain in tack with cars tires rolling over it? I just recently had a new concrete driveway poured in July of 2015.

Very satisfied with everything.until a few weeks ago. After some heavy rains, followed by snow, and brutal temperatures, I started noticing that the expansion joint between the new driveway and existing garage floor was 1/2″-1″ higher along the total expanse.

What was once a smooth transition into my garage is no longer. Is this the result of heaving and will it gradually return as the temperatures warm? I’m reluctant to drive my truck into my garage for fear that it may crack. Only wish I would have been informed by the contractor that this would happen and the possibilities that are out there to resolve this issue. Greatly appreciated and many thanks! Thanks for your prompt response, Jeff.

I felt I did my homework on the contractor that I hired (I had 3 other estimates from others), and based on recommendations from individuals and visually inspecting his work, I based my decision on those factors. Looking over my contract, all it basically says is that he will “prep, form, and pour 4″ thick concrete and 6″ thick at the end of driveway w/ limestone mix, wire mesh, broom finish, cured, and cut. A penetrating sealer will be applied after 30 days of curing time.” (which was done).

I see nothing as far as a warranty. I think I’ll get my camera ready and fire off some pics! Thanks, Jeff! OK, so I took the plunge and went with the backer rod/sealant method over wood. Overall, it will cost more but it will give me a more even look due to the self leveling compound as opposed to the wood which would have to be cut due to the variances in depth due to tree roots and muck that can not be removed from the joint cracks.

I would definitely endorse Jeff’s big tip of ensuring that your backer rod is snug. If it is at all loose at any point, the sealant will leak through and you will be left with holes in your sealant where water will get through. Even if the crack is evenly 5/8″ across and you use a 7/8″ backer rod but you have sections where there are chips making it greater than 5/8″, this will be the weak areas. A situation I ran into is where the joint was wider than the largest diameter backer rod. I am going to experiment with two methods. Jeff suggested twisting two backer rods together but it seems to me that this does not make it uniform when inserting into the joint.

Instead, I am going to use the largest diameter I can find and then an additional backer rod that will give me enough width to provide the additional 1/8″ that I need to fill the joint. Because the backer rod is tubular, they tend to roll away from each other when you insert it into the joint. Instead, I am considering cutting part of the backer rod so that it is flat(ish). Perhaps, I might cut both and have the flat ends butted against the sides of the joint.

I recognize that I will probably need to account for the loss of material and therefore go with two larger diameter backer rods. This post is a life saver!

I have been working on the driveway of my boyfriend’s rental house since spring. Just now getting all the weeds up and heading toward the phase of getting the dirt and old sealant (among other things) out of there. I am a DIY newbie but it’s all fun to me. As far as the driveway, the expansion joints are one thing, but there are also cracks of varying depth and width. Some meet the joints and just end at the side of the driveway.

My main question is should I fill these cracks with concrete or sealant? And if concrete, should I fill the expansion joints first or the cracks? One last question- what is the best material to dam the ends of the joints with? Thank you so much for this resource!

Here’s some things I learned as a first time Sikaflex SL user as they pertain to my project. I hope you can learn from my mistakes and successes. My intent is to share and not sound preachy: Spend plenty of time prepping your project. It took hours and hours to dig out old expansion joint materials, weeds, dirt, etc. But it was worth it when it was time to pour. Measure the width and length of all the spaces you need to fill and purchase several sizes of backer rod.

The hardware stores carry the narrow widths. I bought 100‘ rolls up to 1 1/4″ on eBay.

Something didn’t feel good about having a void under the backer rod, even if it was tight against the sides so I pulled it out and filled in the space with sand and leveled it out so the backer rod sat on the sand. I poured in dry sand and wetted it before putting the backer rod on to get rid of the air pockets.

Don’t know if this is necessary but didn’t want any air pockets figuring in later. Maybe the air pockets are helpful though with winter heaving? As mentioned in the original article, keep the top of backer rod below the surface. If you don’t, it will leave a hump when the pouring is done.

I read online that backer rod has gas in it which will release and weaken its integrity if cut so I did not trim the top of it as another poster did. Leave the backer rod in for a few days before pouring the sealant. Mine contracted six inches over the span of a two stall garage opening. I learned this after I laid the backer rod, got my project interrupted, and got back to it days later. I’m glad that happened instead of it moving around with wet the sealant on it trying to set. My neighbor poured his right away. His ends were not secure and when he woke up the next morning it looked like the Loch Ness Monster was breaking the surface.

The ends were sticking out four inches. His said some naughty words and has a LOT of work ahead of him. After the backer rod is in, I brushed a medium layer of sand over it to fill in any unseen air holes. I learned this the hard way on my first experimental try. The sealant found a hole and ran and ran down it. I wetted the sand with a spray bottle immediately prior to adding sealant. Dam the ends.

I used whatever fit the area. A snip of backer rod, a piece of cardboard, a strip of duct tape.

On some places I could not get the old material out of the gap in places and backer rod would simply not fill the gap so I stuffed different diameters of rope in as filler. It looks fine after a week. Fingers crossed for the long term. I did mine in the fall and leaves galore found the wet sealant.

So did bits of grass, dust, sand, dirt. This would be a great indoor project. Find a neighbor and share the costs. Home Depot sells SikaFlex at a discount by the case (can’t remember if there are 10 or 12 of the large tubes). When we bought, it was about $10 vs. $12 per tube.

Get the right color. They had tan and gray when we bought and you have to look at the color strip on the package. Tan was less expensive for some reason.

Do your project during the day when people are at work. EVERY neighbor who has this project ahead of them (which is every neighbor) will stop and want an explanation. Every neighbor. It’s great to meet the neighbors if they don’t mind you continuing to work while you visit. If you do decide to take them up on their offer to “do theirs next”, bid it out per hour, not per job. It takes way longer than expected. I took plenty of rags and paper towels but did not get the proper cleaning solvent.

It does not wash off with water. Not off your concrete and not off your hands. Getting tools out one by one as I used them, here’s a list ahead of time that I used at least once and are in the pile: buckets for sand and debris, scoops, brush, broom, gloves, tape measure, yard stick, needle nose pliers (pulling out leaves from wet sealant), putty knife, box cutter, scissors, painters tape, paper towels, rags, screwdrivers for digging, rope, spray bottle with water, backer rod, case of sealant, large size caulking gun, towel for relief for knees on concrete, shop vac, headphones, patience. Great info, thanks! I am trying to fix a problem made worse after hiring 2nd concrete contractor to redo section of driveway meeting garage floor. 2nd guy used 2×4 treated wood as isolation joint where garage walls meet driveway.

Wood too high &some concrete below wood, causing more heaving and damage to siding and garage wrap. I have removed wood and chiseled out most of problematic concrete. The problem is that the joint width is about 3 1/4″!!

Depth is about 6″. It is a 1-car garage so that each joint length is less than 1 foot each. Should I sandwich together foam expansion joint material to fill this space??? I don’t see my problem addressed anywhere. I believe the contractor hired by our builder was a little lazy.

The wooden boards in our driveway’s expansion joints appear to be part of the forms built prior to the concrete being poured. As you know, these forms don’t always fully contain the concrete as some inevitably oozes under the boards before it hardens. My husband and I were trying to pull one of the boards out because it had popped up on one end. We couldn’t get it to budge so I took a long thin knife and probed trying to find out why it wouldn’t move and found several sections of 2 to 3 inches in width of what felt like concrete about half way up the board.

In other words, I could only probe 2 to 3 inches deep instead of 4 or more. How do we break the concrete loose from the board so we can remove the board and replace it with a foam backer rod and self-leveling sealant?

Jeff, you are so helpful. I have a long double wide driveway and spent most of yesterday digging weeds out of the joints. The sealant is all gone over the entire driveway. The joints are all empty except for soil. Do I just clean it well and then put the foam in the joint on top of the soil? Also I have cracks in another area.

These are not joints. Can I use the same sealant in these cracks and do I use the foam too? Some cracks are wider than others. I’m a 76 yr old widow and so excited to start this project. I’m tired of pulling weeds all summer.