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The first point you need to establish is the temperature at the time of application. Please also bear in mind that if the area has been used at minus temperatures, even if the freezer has been turned off, the floor temperature is still going to be very cold AND for quite a period of time AFTER the coolers have been turn off.
We have four twin pack products and also a single pack cementitious product, all eminently suitable for fridge/cold store/freezer areas. Furthermore, we have our specialist expansion joint material, Jointex CSG, designed specifically for the filling of expansion joints in temperatures below 0°C.
Ensure the hole is clean and dry. If using the CSG version, the product is best stored in the freezer before use so as to keep the resin ‘colder’ and allow a longer pot life.
Simply mix the two parts together and trowel them into place.
If the hole is deep (15mm or over) it is advised to use the Deepfill version and this can be applied at any depth between 15mm and 50mm per layer. The (non Deepfill) product can be used for any depth but in layers of no more than 15mm (per layer).
Both products will cure very quickly and in ‘normal circumstances’ the areas can be put back to full use in only 2 hours!
Important:
If the ‘Standard’ version is used at minus temperatures, the product will at the very least take far longer to cure and may never cure at all. Even if the product does (eventually) cure in such circumstances, the product may never achieve the correct hardness and this will inevitably reduce the strength of the repair.
The CSG (Cold Store Grade) must only be used at temperatures lower than 0⁰C. If the product is used in any higher temperatures, then the product will cure too fast and end up with a poor cure/cracking of the product.
Cretex LT
An easy-to-use, single-pack cementitious repair, mixed with warm water and one that will cure quickly and in temperatures from +25°C down to as low as -20°C. The beauty of Cretex LT is that it can be used both inside and outside of the cold store and one of the most common areas is doorways. This is due to a possible build-up of ice and the inevitable wetness in the concrete.
Another popular use for Cretex LT is to fill the channels left from any heating wire, heater mat repairs often situated on the external side of entrances and doorways.
Furthermore, Cretex LT is simply used as a very fast and very strong floor repair in most factories, schools, shopping centres and almost any 24/7 environments where downtime needs to be as short as possible.
Jointex CSG
A highly specialized expansion joint product capable of curing in temperatures as low as -30⁰C. This product remains flexible and will therefore allow expansion and contraction, a requirement that is imperative in such joints. Please can we strongly advise that you should NOT use a hard repair mortar for such joints. Whilst these products are indeed very strong and will fill an expansion joint extremely easily, they will NOT allow for movement. Should the floors not be allowed to move, this will then highly likely cause the slab to crack as can be witnessed on virtually every site where such products have been ‘incorrectly’ used. This result only ends up making matters worse as a cracked floor only weakens the entire slab structure. These problems can be easily avoided by the use of Jointex CSG.
If you discover that your joints have indeed been filled completely with a hard non-flexible repair mortar (you may even find that the slab has already cracked as well) whilst this is not good, all is not lost. My strong advice is to simply cut through the so-called repair mortar using a diamond saw (in a nice straight line) and simply re-instate the expansion joint with Jointex CSG.
Any cracks can also be filled with a cold store grade resin. However, we would invite you to speak with one of our technical advisors so that we can discuss this particular problem first in order to be able to offer the correct advice/solution – once all parameters are known.
