Castle Custom Curbing installs continuous concrete edging that adds beauty and functionality to your yard. Not only does concrete edging look amazing, it reduces yard maintenance by keeping material (rocks, mulch, grass, etc.) where it’s supposed to be and makes mowing much easier.
Overview
This article explores the use of steel cable reinforcement within concrete edging. Considering the
Edmonton climate of extreme temperatures, we experience frost heave that has a significant impact on roads, sidewalks, and concrete edging alike. With this being a process that is unavoidable in Edmonton, the best solution is to be proactive and take the necessary steps to limit this heave for as long as possible.
Frost Heave and the Freeze/Thaw Cycle
In Edmonton, we have what’s called a ‘Frost Line’ at about 4 feet deep. In winter, the ground water that is above this line will freeze. As the frozen water expands due to a process called ‘ice segregation’, it will lift and push on the soil that surrounds it. This in turn will push on any sidewalk, road, or curbing above and will cause movement and in some cases, cracks to form. This process happens every winter and spring but can be exacerbated during the winters when we see very warm temperatures and then extreme cold temperatures throughout a single winter.
The Impact of Ground Movement on Curbing
The movement of the soil underneath curbing is unavoidable. However, there are a few things we do at Castle to prevent unsightly cracking in the curb. First thing is we add ‘control joints’.
These are the small cuts we make approximately every 22 inches in the curbing. This acts as a break point for when the curbing shifts. We want the cracks to happen at these joints and not in the middle of a section of curb.
Steel Cable Reinforcement
The purpose of the steel cable is to anchor each section of curb to each other as they shift
and move during the frost heave/thaw cycles. With the sections of curbing being anchored to each other, it limits the up and down shifting of various sections of curb so the appearance of the curb maintains its original look for as long as possible. Of course, over many years, eventually the look will slowly change. But we hope this doesn’t happen in a significant way for at least 10 years!!
Summary
Steel Cable Reinforcement is an inexpensive add on to your curbing project that is a great and proactive means to extend the new look of your concrete curbing. At Castle, we install the cable at the same time that we pour the curb and can be easily added to any stamped curb product and is also included in the natural stone product at no extra cost. We will mention the steel reinforcement whenever we do an onsite estimate.
Thank you very much for reading! Enjoy Edmonton’s beautiful summer and soak up that sun! Take care.
Curtis Straub
Owner / Operator
Castle Custom Curbing
GlowStone Lighting Authorized Retailer
Edmonton AB
