Expansion Joint Sealing in Canterbury
Expansion and movement joint sealing in walls, decks and floors in Canterbury. CHAS accredited, Constructionline member, with a 12-month guarantee on workmanship.
- Leaks through car park deck joints onto the level below
- Movement joints with split or torn sealant
- Hardened, cracked sealant on exposed facades
Expansion joint sealing for businesses in Canterbury
Tell us what needs sealing and where, with photos or drawings if you have them, and we’ll price it.
When to call us in Canterbury
The edges of the material can fail rather than the sealant. Weak or crumbling concrete, brick or render edges give the sealant nothing sound to grip.
Any of the following is a good reason to get the joints checked over:
- Spalled or broken joint edges in floors and decks
- Water dripping through deck or ramp joints
- Weathered movement joint sealant that no longer flexes
- Debris jammed in movement joints
University campuses such as University of the Creative Arts, under half a mile south-east of Canterbury, have car parks, paved walkways and building elevations with movement joints.
What to look for in a quote
- How long is the guarantee, and what does it include?
- Will RAMS and insurance details be available?
- Whether old or failed sealant will be cut out, not overlaid
- Do they follow the manufacturer’s priming guidance?
Expansion joint sealing for commercial buildings in Canterbury
A movement joint only works while its seal does. When the sealant splits or lets go, the gap fills with dirt and water, the joint can’t close properly and its edges begin to crumble. Dealt with early, it stays a sealant job rather than a concrete or masonry repair. Most enquiries involve weathered movement joint sealant that no longer flexes and leaks through car park deck joints onto the level below, on cladding panel joints, car park decks and ramps and precast concrete panel joints. Whoever orders the work in Canterbury, the brief is typically the same: a fixed quote, no surprises on site and a 12-month guarantee behind the result.
Industrial estates, retail parks and multi-storey car parks are typical of a place the size of Canterbury. Every one has joints taking pallet trucks, forklifts or tyres, so the product has to suit the traffic and the movement at each joint.
A 12-month guarantee applies to all our work. Should something we installed fail, give us a call on 01277 525 020 or email a schedule or drawings and we’ll come back to it.
Common questions from Canterbury clients
Do you cover business parks and estates near Canterbury, such as Wincheap Industrial Estate?
Yes, sites like Wincheap Industrial Estate are within our area, along with the rest of Canterbury. A few photos and the unit address let us price the work.
Will our site in Canterbury have to close for joint sealing?
Rarely. Work is phased around your operations. Tell us which hours and entrances we can use and we’ll plan from there.
Is any job too small?
Whatever the size, the process is the same: send details, get a fixed quote, we seal, guaranteed.
Can staff carry on working while you’re here?
Yes, as long as we plan it. Tell us your site hours and access windows and we’ll plan around them.
Are your applicators CSCS-carded?
Yes. Should the site need card details in advance, tell us and we will confirm them with the quote.
Who decides which product is used?
If the job is specified, we follow the specification. Otherwise, we recommend a product to suit the joint’s movement, the substrate and the conditions, following the manufacturer’s guidance.
Can you quote from photos?
That depends on the size and complexity of the job. Straightforward work can often be priced from photos and measurements, while larger or less clear jobs get a site visit first.
Places near Canterbury
Other services in Canterbury
What sets the cost
There’s no standard rate for sealant work, since sites vary so much. What we look at:
- Site requirements such as inductions and permits
- Whether the work must be split into stages
- Travel to remote or island sites
- How much existing material needs removing
The price depends on how many linear metres there are, what has to come out first and how the joints are reached. Call for a fixed quote once you have the details.
Details that help us quote
There’s no need for a formal survey. These details are enough to start:
- Your programme or deadline
- Photos of the joints, close up and from further back
- Whether an asbestos survey exists
- Whether the building will be occupied during the work
Send us photos, drawings or a joint schedule and a fixed quote comes back to you. Where a site visit makes more sense, we’ll arrange one.
Diagnose, treat, sign off
We follow your site rules from the start: sign-in, induction and whatever permit system the building uses. Once we’re cleared to begin, the joints are worked through in the order agreed with your site contact. Sites in a big town such as Canterbury frequently have reception sign-in, inductions and permits to work. Send the site rules with your enquiry and we will plan to them.
- We assess the joints on site or from photos, noting widths and how each has failed.
- You receive a fixed quote stating the product and the movement it is rated for.
- Phasing is agreed so decks, floors or entrances can stay in use where needed.
- We strip the old sealant or filler and prepare each face until it’s sound and dry.
- Depth is controlled with backing, the faces are primed where the maker calls for it, then the bead is laid and tooled.
- We check each joint with you, confirm the cure time and sign off under our 12-month guarantee.
Before we start on site
- Point out parking and an unloading spot
- Let us know about inductions and permits
- Move anything stored against the joints
Getting a fixed quote
Every job follows the same four steps: send details, get a quote, we seal, guaranteed. The first step is to phone 01277 525 020 or email the details over with what you know.
Advice
Expansion joint sealing in Canterbury: the local picture
Rainfall across the South East, Canterbury included, is lower than in many parts of the UK. Even so, yard and car park joints are only sealed when they’re dry and clean, and where de-icing salt is spread in winter, open joints let it in. Less than 3 miles from Canterbury there are at least three named estates and business parks. Floors, loading bays and yards on sites like these are where floor and movement joints work hardest.
Hospitals like Kent and Canterbury Hospital (0.9 miles south of Canterbury) have multi-storey or surface car parks whose joints carry vehicles round the clock. If you manage units on an estate such as Wincheap Industrial Estate, which lies south-west of Canterbury, the floor joints under forklifts and pallet trucks and the slab joints in the yard are the ones to watch.
Canterbury is in Kent. Anywhere in CT1, the process is the same: send details, get a fixed quote, we seal, and the work is guaranteed. Canterbury is one of 931 places we cover in Kent for movement joints. Our London page has more on work in that area (53 miles or so).
Postcode districts covered here: CT1, CT2, CT4 and CT3 for movement joints. We cover commercial and managed buildings on Long Market, High Street and High Street St Gregorys and the roads nearby. Canterbury sits on or close to the A2 and A28, which helps when planning parking and deliveries for the job. Sites close to Canterbury are covered too, including Wincheap (1 mile south-west), Harbledown (1 mile west), Hales Place (1 mile north), Thanington (1 mile south-west) and Stuppington (1 mile south). Further afield, our area takes in Ashford (13 miles south-west), Margate (15 miles north-east), Dover (14 miles south-east), Folkestone (14 miles south), Ramsgate (15 miles east) and Whitstable (6 miles north-west). Among the larger centres in Kent is Canterbury, and its commercial and public buildings are all within our area.
Local landmarks in Canterbury
Recent enquiries here include premises near Canterbury School of Architecture, Bus Company Island and St Thomas of Canterbury Church. Nearby too are The Old Buttermarket pub (less than half a mile south-west) and Barton Court Grammar School (0.5 miles east). Canterbury has its own railway station: Canterbury East station. Other landmarks nearby include Whitefriars Shopping Centre (less than half a mile south-west) and Canterbury Roman Museum (under half a mile south). For a walk, there’s Blean Woods RSPB Reserve.
Different surfaces, different methods
Internal floor movement joints
Warehouse and retail floors have saw-cut induced joints and construction joints. Trafficked floor joints often get a semi-rigid filler.
Podium joints
Podium decks are exposed and often trafficked. We choose a product that copes with feet, wheels and weather.
Aftercare for building managers
Keep the joints in good shape with a few simple steps:
- Keep scrapers and ploughs from dragging across joint sealant
- Inspect exposed joints once the cold weather has passed
- Treat a small split as a warning, not a cosmetic issue
- Record the sealant used and the date in the O&M file
Fresh joint sealant needs its full cure time before it takes traffic or water. The time varies with product, conditions and joint depth. Barriers left in place until then protect the finish.
External wall joints that fail let rain into the masonry and cavity. The first sign is often a damp patch indoors, well after the seal first opened. Resealing promptly prevents internal damage.
When to bring in a specialist
Site maintenance staff can often handle a short internal joint. Where it goes wrong is preparation: new sealant over old, damp or dusty faces, or the wrong product for the movement.
Redoing a failed joint normally costs more than getting it right at the outset, because the whole bead must be removed and the faces cleaned back again. That’s why many clients bring in a specialist from the beginning.