Expansion Joint Replacement

Expansion Joint Replacement in Cincinnati, OH

Expansion joints exist because concrete and steel move. They grow in summer heat, shrink in winter cold, and deflect under load. When a joint fills with debris, gets paved over, or is sealed with a rigid material, that movement has nowhere to go and the structure relieves it by cracking somewhere it was never meant to.

River City Restoration replaces failed expansion joints in slabs, parking structures, walkways, loading docks and building connections. We size the replacement for the movement the joint actually sees, which means measuring the gap across a temperature range rather than reading the drawing and hoping.

Where the concrete at the joint edge has already spalled or blown out, we rebuild the nosing with a polymer repair mortar before the new joint system goes in. Installing a joint into a broken edge just moves the failure a few inches.

Expansion joint conditions we correct

• Debris-packed joints with no room to move
• Spalled and blown-out joint edges and nosings
• Failed, torn or extruded joint seals
• Rigid material installed in a moving joint
• Parking deck joints leaking onto cars below
• Loading dock and dock leveler joint damage
• Slab-to-foundation and slab-to-wall joints
• Bridge and walkway joint systems
• Interior floor joints under forklift traffic

Measure the movement, rebuild the edge, install the right system

We begin by establishing the joint's movement range and recording the ambient temperature at installation, because a joint system installed at full summer compression will be pulled past its capacity in January. This single measurement is what determines whether the replacement lasts.

The old system comes out completely, including any embedded frame, and the joint faces are saw cut back to sound concrete. Spalled nosings are formed and rebuilt with a high-strength polymer-modified mortar, which reaches traffic-bearing strength in hours rather than days so a deck or dock can reopen quickly.

The new system goes in matched to the application: compression seals, foam sealant systems, elastomeric concrete headers with a bellows, or a bonded metal-and-elastomer assembly for heavy vehicular traffic. Interior floor joints under hard-wheeled forklifts get a semi-rigid epoxy or polyurea filler instead, which supports the joint edge against impact while still permitting the small movement a shrinkage joint needs.

Frequently asked about expansion joint replacement