Tracy: Oh that is nice, oh!
Eric: Oh! Hey everyone. We are yet again in Tracy’s basement because I have come to visit and well it is a project of course and you remember Sam? My sister has a big water leak in her basement. There is a big crack that goes through the whole floor and we have been trying to figure out how to deal with it. There is a number of methods and I told her if she chipped out the crack, I would show her how to use hydraulic cement to fix it.
So, here we are. She has chipped out the crack which is the really pain part of this thing and you can see here this is a very good job, you want that all cleaned. If you see anything loose in here, you should just pull it out like these little pieces here, just flick them out.
Tracy: Oh.
Eric: That is okay and right there, you know, just—you got that? Just pull that out.
Tracy: It sounds like you are cleaning somebody’s teeth.
Eric: Yes. But the more loose material you get out, the better.
This is called hydraulic cement. Now most cements when you pour them out, they contract a little bit and hydraulic cement expands. Hydraulic cement works very well, you have to use it in small batches so we are going to show you how to do that, okay? By the way, this is a wood chisel. Do not use that for concrete, okay?
Tracy: It worked.
Eric: Yes. This is a really good chisel for cleaning out stuff because it has a protector so when you are hitting with a hammer, you do not hit your hand. If you missed, you hit the plastic instead of hitting your hand. When you are going to be chiseling, use the safety glasses because concrete will chip up and hit you in the eye and that is a bad thing.
Get off all this stuff.
We have got wire brushes. You can clean out the crack with that. You know just be creative, you could use a screwdriver as well but you know, screwdrivers are for screwdrivering. But, safety first, you have to wear gloves when working with this stuff. Do not use cement without wearing gloves. I am going to use these fancy blue gloves the nitrile gloves they are called, but they work really well or a heavy rubber glove. Do not use the latex ones.
Cements have, I think they have—in them and that hurts your hands so I want to feel like a doctor here. Are you okay Sam?
Tracy: Good job Sam.
Eric: This would not hurt a bit Sam. Here we go. If you have to store this stuff, you want to keep it in a dry place. You do not want cement to get moist or humid because it will turn into a big rock. Am I not doing this right? Is there something I have done wrong here?
Tracy: You are supposed to pop, there is a crack to pop right over here on my side, see?
Eric: Okay.
Tracy: So much for reading instructions.
Eric: So if all of these fails, redirections.
Tracy: This is a lot of work.
Eric: Okay inside, this looks like just gray dirt. So I take some of this, again not a lot. That is about, what is that, two cups worth?
Tracy: A cup and a half so how much of the crack will that fill?
Eric: Not much.
Tracy: So we are going to do a little piece of that thing.
Eric: This stuff sets up really fast so--
Tracy: Would it be logical to start at the wall and work into the room?
Eric: No. Well what is wrong with starting right here?
Tracy: I am very linear. He is starting and ending but you can start in the middle.
Eric: It looks better for the video right here.
Tracy: Okay. It looks like somebody put that mess and it has cracked before too.
Eric: Oh yes, that is the problem because you are always repairing someone else’s mess so you want this to be like a little wetter all right?
Tracy: So wallpaper paste.
Eric: And if it is too soupy, see right now it is too soupy, I have put in too much water. You add a little bit more to dry the powder.
Tracy: Is it about the consistency of banana bread dough?
Eric: Yes, there you go. Like cookie dough.
Tracy: Okay, cookie dough is dry.
Eric: Okay so this banana bread dough then, all right! So this is ready to be put in here.
Tracy: Oh wow! Let us go.
Eric: Okay this is going to be fairly messy. It is not a super clean repair. You t
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