Concrete is a maintenance free product. Concrete sealing is easy to do for most homeowners. Spray on sealers are preferred, commercial grade products are available locally through Fox Industries in Baltimore, or you can visit your local hardware store. Appling a protective sealer to concrete will help to increase the longevity of your concrete by preventing the concrete from absorbing harmful chemicals found in deicers and fertilizers. These chemicals will deteriorate your concrete prematurely. To learn more about selecting a sealer click here.

Concrete cleaning is a task with varying degrees of difficulty. It can be as simple as using a pressure washer to clean dirt and tire marks, a 5000 PSI pressure washer is recommended to remove tire tracks, or as difficult as removing an oil or rust stains. Pressure washing concrete is a pretty easy task with great results. Cleaning concrete is much easier then cleaning wood or brick and you’ll love the new look. The best approach to cleaning a fresh oil stain requires a dry scrub brush, concentrated liquid hand soap and little elbow grease. Apply a generous amount of liquid hand soap to the fresh stain. Scrub with the dry brush, do not use water; you will only dilute the soap. After rubbing in the soap rinse with lots of water. If the stain is not completely gone and the area is exposed to a generous amount of sunlight, let Mother Nature clean the rest. The sun will bleach out the stain. If this method does not work to your satisfaction or for removing older stains visit the Do It Yourself Network for more help on concrete cleaning.

F&M Contractors method of concrete repairs is to replace the old concrete with new concrete. We dig up and remove the existing concrete, grade and compact your sub base and pour new concrete. We do not patch concrete. If you would like to learn about patching concrete around your home visit the Do It Yourself Network for concrete repairs and patching.

Another common problem which occurs mainly in the wintertime when the ground freezes, is heaving. Heaving is more likely to happen on the north side of your home. Most times the concrete will settle back down to grade after the ground thaws.