| Here's a great way to replace
any wood that has rotted, in between your concrete slabs that form your
walkway to your home or a sidewalk around your house.
You've probably seen them plenty of times, a 2 x 4 that was used to
divide a sidewalk into sections. These 2 x 4's are usually cosmetic and
add a nice look to any sidewalk, until, that is, they start to
disintegrate.
These 2 x 4's are usually hard to replace, it's rare that you will find
one that's exactly the right size to replace the one that was rotted or
damaged. Usually the 2 x 4 that was in the ground, surrounded by
concrete, has dried out and is usually a little bit smaller than the
ones that you will purchase from any lumberyard.
Remember that lumber shrinks as it dries. I have seen an 11 1/2 inch
wide 2 x 12, shrink down to 11 - 1/8 inches, within six months.
There is a solution, you can use a planner to cut the 2 x 4's down to
the correct width, and then they can be easily installed, with very
little effort.
Now the picture above, is a great idea for any rotted wood joint repair.
It won't require any more wood that could be rotting away in the future
and there is a very good chance, that this type of home repair, will
last for a long time.
Simply remove the water damaged 2 x 4, clean the joint out , to where
there isn't any more debris and fill the joint with a high-strength
concrete mix. Let the concrete mix dry and you still have a sidewalk,
with a nice rustic look to it, but you've solved the problem of
replacing any damaged 2 x 4's, in the future.
Home Repair Idea: If you like the rustic look of a regular 2 x 4, you
could always use a colored concrete mix, to fill the joints, between the
sidewalks. There are quite a few different concrete colors that you can
choose from. If you want to keep the rustic look of wood, you could
always use brown and brown can be purchased at almost any home
improvement center or lumberyard.
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