Forward to the Third Edition

The concrete repair, protection and strengthening industry is driven by deterioration of, damage to, and defects in
concrete structures along with changes in use and code requirements. The annual cost to owners for repair, protection
and strengthening is estimated between $18 billion and $21 billion in the U.S. alone. The result is a repair industry that
supports engineers, architects, equipment suppliers, material manufacturers, researchers, educators, testing companies,
contractors, and lawyers. The recent explosive growth of the industry in the past 25 years has resulted in the need for many
improvements in materials, design practice, installation procedures, contracting processes, QA/QC procedures, education,
and more. These improvements are needed to improve service life, reduce costs, and reduce conflicts.

In 1997, a grass roots initiative was developed by several committees within ACI (The American Concrete Institute) to
provide focus of repair activities. In 1998, ACIs Technical Activities Committee established the TAC Repair and Rehabilitation
Committee (TRRC). An early task of TRRC was a compilation of selected U.S. documents related to concrete repair, which
became the first edition of the Concrete Repair Manual. The first edition was published jointly by ACI and ICRI (the
International Concrete Repair Institute) in 1999.

In keeping with one of TRRCs standing goals, and because of the success of the first edition of the Concrete Repair Manual,
planning for a second edition began in 2000. Consistent with one of the major objectives in ACIs 2001 Strategic Plan, to
have ACI be a worldwide knowledge source for concrete, the development of the second edition of the Concrete Repair
Manual included broad-based participation by several European organizations. The second edition was released in 2003.

In 2004, ICRI hosted, and the SDC (Strategic Development Council) facilitated an industry wide-strategic planning meeting
for the concrete repair industry, called Vision 2020. Over 100 representatives of the diverse concrete repair and protection
industry recognized the importance of a unified vision. They have identified potential breakthroughs in materials,
equipment, industry cooperation, research and funding, professional practice, design methodology, environmental impact,
workforce supply and owner education. They believe this effort will significantly advance the industry by improving repair
quality, reducing repair cost, and enhancing the safety of workers and the public.

Goal 1 of the Vision 2020 plan is as follows:

By the year 2010 the industry will have established mechanisms for industry cooperation to facilitate better and
faster worldwide creation of concrete repair and protection technology and dissemination of information about the
technology.

One of the main strategies under this goal is to manage the Concrete Repair Manual project, and to develop future editions.
To achieve this goal, the third edition of the Concrete Repair Manual includes documents from 6 of the 9 endorsing
associations of the Vision 2020 plan. These include:

American Concrete Institute (ACI)

BRE (formerly the British Research Establishment)

The Concrete Society

International Concrete Repair Institute (ICRI)

NACE International (formerly National Association of Corrosion Engineers)

SSPC: Society for Protective Coatings

There are also documents from the United States Army Corps of Engineers included in the third edition.

It should be noted that the documents included in this edition have been developed and processed according to the
procedures of the respective organizations. Publishers of the third edition are ACI and ICRI.

This Manual would not have been possible without the assistance and cooperation of many individuals from North America
and the U.K. The cooperation of the various organizations and individuals that made this edition a reality should be
recognized as unique in the concrete repair industry.



How to Use This Manual
The copyright of the documents contained in this manual remains with the various contributing organizations, and they
are mainly reproduced in their entirety. The Source material is in no way intended to provide performance specifications
for concrete repair. It is merely intended to provide the user with a handbook covering all practical aspects of concrete
repair with which to augment knowledge of this specialist subject. An experienced practitioner derives most concrete repair
solutions from careful early inspection and analysis together with expert engineering judgment.

The Manual is divided into six principal areas:

General

Condition Evaluation

Concrete Restoration

Contractual

Strengthening

Protection

Special Cases

In the main subject areas, the collated documents are laid out, sometimes under sub-headings, from more general content
to more specific content. If the readers interest is general, then the early part of the section is recommended.

The Table of Contents shows the order of the documents laid out in the principle areas. Those topic areas generally follow
the stages in the repair process.

It is inevitable that there may be some amount of repetition in certain subject areas, due to the collated nature of this
manual. However, it was deemed important to include documents in full, even if some subjects are repeated. Most of the
collated material is in itself well indexed, and this is the route recommended in the search for information related to a
specific topic.

The reader is wished every success in their quest for concrete repair information. They are also encouraged to contact the
contributing organizations with any questions relating to a specific document.