patch it with a concrete epoxy, AND reinforce it with steel bars underneath the seat. the epoxy will hold the pieces together and the steel will hold the weight.

worthy How deep did you drill the injection ports...I got conflicting instrtution from the guy who sold me this and on the product itself. The guy told me, [at BrockWhite Construtcion] to use a 3/8" bit,...he wanted to sell me a bit, I said that 3/8 looks too small when I seen the plastic port plugs, he said that these plugs..[about 5/8" diameter] will collapse when pounding in. Can you imagine...ruining the the ends of plugs! Fortunately the drill bit shank had a groove for a special hammer drill so I didn't buy it. Instruction on the product calls for 1/2" bit....that's more like it. He said to drill about 1" deep and gluing in the plug with anchor adhesive, question...I push pound the plug, large end in just below surface and glue the rest to the top including seal the surface on top..as I see in your picture. The instruction say, drill 4" deep on 45 degree [alternate] angle until you intersect crack...the guy said straight in. There is a picture on the instruction and the plugs are all straight in, the end of plastic ports are sticking out a fair amount, by this picture it look that these plugs are pushed about 3/4" deep. I don't really see it to drill 4" deep...if this product travels this good? QUESTION How did you drill and did this product come up on the next plug, 24" spacing? Did you inject water first?...they say it works better on wet cracks when Polyurethane getting in contact with moisture, it will foam and expand more. I'm ready to go but wanted to do this right, help is very much appreciated!

The hairline cracks you could fill with caulk if they are truly hairline cracks. The caulk is going to flex while any patching compound will not. But, any crack bigger than hairline will still show if you caulk it because the caulk will shrink and the crack will not be filled. There is a certain technique to caulking small cracks...you want to lay a very small bead of caulk over the crack and then smooth it over with a wet finger. You want to do this carefully so that you do not push the caulk deep into the crack but you also want to make sure that you do not leave the caulk on top of the crack as that will certainly show when you paint over it. Mesh tape is probably the best way to repair a bigger sized crack, but you are right in that when it cracks again and that mesh tape seperates itself from the wall, it is going to be ugly. Also, in order to disguise that mesh tape, you will have to float your mud out pretty far so doing the repairs that way can get pretty involved.

We have an old 1920's English Tudor in Wisconsin, and just repaired a step crack in our basement where water was coming in. The crack went all the way from the base of the window down to the floor. We don't have a poured basement, we have cinder block. It was an easy fix. Our crack went really deep, so what we did first was spray "Great Stuff" liquid foam deep into the recesses of the crack - it has a long straw which allows you to reach hidden areas, and once you spray the product expands on its own. I don't know if this was necessary, but we did it anyway just to fill in the voids. This one was specifically designed for masonry. There are others designed for window frames, plumbing, etc. and each has different properties. We purchased it at Home Depot. What local contractors and our local paint store (a reputable one) told us to do is to apply UGL Drylok quick dry Hydraulic Cement. This is applied probably no deeper than 1 inch from the surface. We first chiseled out all residue and wiped the surface so that it was free of dust and particles. You want to chisel the crack at the surface to make a nice "V" shape - enough room to apply the hydraulic cement. Before applying the cement, spray the surface so that it is moist. The wet surface will help the cement adhere better, and will lessen shrinkage while it cures. Home Depot initially told us to seal the cement after it dries, but our paint store (these guys are WAY more knowledgable than Home Depot employees, in my opinion) told us this wasn't necessary unless we were planning on painting that area. We have paneling over the crack, and the cement worked wonderfully, so it wasn't necessary for us to apply a sealer. It's now dry as a bone, after a ton of subsequent rain. Because of the previous leak, the area is a little mildewy, so we purchased UGL Drylock Etch masonry cleaner. This is only necessary if you need to remove mildew, excess mortar, efforescence (salt-like deposits) before preparing the surface for the cement.