It is important to perform regular maintenance on parking garages in
order to extend the life of existing parking structures and maintain a clean,
functional presence for the public who park in your garage. This includes both
steel and concrete rehabilitation. A parking garage restoration firm can come on
site and make these parking garage repair evaluations for you and structure an
annual program for your parking garage. Types of restoration that can be
performed are: overhead concrete replacement, full-floor concrete replacement,
post-tensioning and post-tensioning repair, carbon fiber installation, steel
plating and bracing, shotcrete installation, plaza rehabilitation, deck
waterproofing systems, including joint sealants, traffic deck coatings, concrete
sealers and expansion joint sealing systems.
Maintenance of a parking
garage is key. Areas to look for in maintenance of parking structures are;
Structural systems: Floors in parking garages can show cracks, expansion joints,
unevenness across cracks, delaminating of concrete, shifting in the floor
surfaces. It is good to inspect drain locations where water settles in a parking
garage. Inspection of floors of parking garages should be every three months.
Framing components in a parking garage are comprised of the building’s columns,
beams and spandrel panels. These are often constructed of steel, concrete or
steel-encased concrete. Look for places where the concrete has cracked and where
the reinforcing materials are exposed and corrosion has set in. Framing
components in a parking structure should be inspected every three months. Walls
and towers in parking garages should be plumb. If you see cracking on the wall
surfaces, stair treads become misaligned or the expansion joints may open up.
Walls and towers of parking garages and concrete parking structures should be
inspected quarterly. Connections in a parking garage are places where the
structural system components are bolted, welded or grouted in place and should
be carefully examined for corrosion, cracking, spalling or distress. Connections
should be inspected on a quarterly basis.
Parking garages constructed of
concrete can be particularly susceptible to the negative effects of stress.
Movement-induced stresses can result in concrete cracks. These cracks can reduce
load carrying capacity, create the potential for leakage and facilitate
intrusion of chlorides and other harmful chemicals into the parking structure. When stress
cracking is identified in a parking garage, it’s important to quickly identify
the cause of the problem and correct it. A growing number of parking garage
owners are relying on carbon fiber reinforcement products to supplement the
existing load capacity of their structures, and permanently and cost-effectively
reinforce and repair stress cracks in their parking garage. Up to 10 times
stronger than steel reinforcement, carbon fiber reinforcement is ideal for
parking structure applications, because it is lightweight, easy to handle and
apply and completely inert and non-corrosive. The sooner you address the cause
of the cracks — and the sooner you execute a carbon fiber repair, the less
likely you are to have major and costly structural problems further down the
road. A parking garage expert will be capable of examining your garage and
making determinations on carbon fiber reinforcement.
