CERATECH Inc.?s concrete-repair products have helped the U.S. Military in Iraq, where American servicemembers must constantly protect against the threat of improvised-explosive devices. IEDs are land mines insurgents hide in holes in the ground and roadways.
When an explosion creates a crater in the roadway, the hole must be repaired and looked after so new IEDs aren?t placed in the new hole or the drying concrete, said Leo Kahl, vice president of marketing for CERATECH.
“From what we?re told, this product helps save lives over there,” Kahl said. “It?s a great thing.”
Military officials have praised CERATECH?s quick-drying products.
“The work helps Marines and civilians get around easier and also keeps Marines safer when they convoy on already dangerous roads,” Cpl. Michael Moceri, a heavy-equipment operator with the Marines of Engineer Support Company in Iraq, said in a statement.
“I don?t want myself or anyone else getting blown up; plain and simple,” Lance Cpl. Patricia Lusk, a heavy-equipment operator with the company, said in a statement.
In the wake of the bridge collapse in Minneapolis last week, companies like CERATECH are now focusing on bridge-repair products, Kahl said. “Bridge deterioration is a big issue across the country,” Kahl said. “Bridge decks and concrete experience greater freeze thaw and flexing issues which ultimately weakens (the bridge).
“The concrete road beds are extremely important to the life span of a bridge.”
CERATECH, founded in 2001 and based in Baltimore, manufactures concrete-repair, rehabilitation, architectural and new-construction solutions used by the U.S. military and the Department of Defense.
The company?s Pavemend Brand concrete-repair products can be used in all-weather conditions and dry within one to four hours after application, Kahl said. A 5-gallon bucket of the product ranges in cost from $20 to $48.
“This is kind of like a magic bullet for concrete repair,” Kahl said. “These products are so easy to use and they harden so quickly.”
CERATECH?s other customers include the Maryland Tollway Authority, the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, the City of Baltimore Public Works and hundreds of other transportation authorities, construction companies and municipalities nationwide.
