Prepare the concrete (Base Layers)
Seal & bond (Surface Barrier)
Protect & finish (Topcoats & Sealers)
Complete systems (Multi-Layer)
Technical detail (Long Form)
Protect & finish · Infrastructure
The Bridge Deck Longevity System. A two-stage penetrating treatment that rebuilds a reinforced concrete bridge deck from within, installed in two brief closures with traffic flowing in between.
A bridge deck does not fail because the concrete runs out. It fails because salt and carbonation reach the reinforcing steel inside it. ConcreteCare CS-42™ is a chemically bonded corrosion barrier that goes after both, sealing the deck against chloride ingress while preserving the alkalinity that keeps the embedded steel passivated.
It is a two-stage penetrating treatment, not a coating or an overlay. Stage 1 soaks deep into the deck and rebuilds it from the inside. Stage 2 seals the surface without forming a film, so skid resistance is preserved and there is nothing to delaminate. The result is a deck protected for decades beyond its typical replacement cycle, and an aged deck that has already begun to deteriorate can be restored in place.
CS-42 is the infrastructure product. Its stablemate for driveways, walkways, patios and pool decks is the ConcreteCare Ceramic Shield System™, built around the CS-01 sealer. The two share a name and a chemistry family, not a specification. For the chloride and carbonation mechanism in full, see how to stop salt corrosion.
How it works
Soaks deep into the deck and regenerates C-A-S-H from within, restoring the cement that chlorides, carbonation and freeze-thaw destroy. It fills micro-cracks and rebuilds an aged deck in place rather than resurfacing it. Applied under a two-hour closure, after which the deck reopens and cures for a week under traffic.
Chemically bonds with the concrete stage 1 restored, penetrating and sealing sub-surface without forming a film, so the deck keeps its skid resistance and there is no coating to peel, blister or wear off under traffic. Applied under an overnight closure the following weekend, after a wash-down.
What it does for the deck
Reinforcing steel is protected by the alkalinity of the concrete around it: above about pH 11.5 its passive film reforms faster than it dissolves. CS-42 holds the pore solution in that steel-passivating 11.5 to 12.5 range, and the restored binder actively buffers the alkalinity rather than simply sealing it in.
Stage 1 refines the pore network the chlorides have to travel through, and the restored aluminate sites bind incoming chloride as Friedel’s salt while the alkaline reserve holds. Road salt and sea spray reach the rebar far more slowly, and what does arrive is locked away from the steel.
Carbonation drives the pH down and strips the steel of its protection. Sealing the surface shuts down the carbonation front where it starts, at the face of the deck.
An aged deck that has already begun to deteriorate can be treated in place, where the usual route has been to demolish and rebuild.
The treated surface sheds chlorides and moisture on contact rather than holding them, so contaminants cannot dwell on the deck and cannot infiltrate it. At the same time the system stays vapor-permeable, letting moisture escape from below instead of being sealed in. Nothing is trapped down at the rebar.
An engineered chemistry reservoir stays active inside the concrete after the crews have gone, driving ongoing self-protection for years. In his own words, the system does not degrade from day one, it improves.
Because both stages penetrate instead of forming a film, there is no membrane or overlay to debond, blister or wear through under traffic.
Because the treatment penetrates rather than coats, the deck keeps its existing surface texture and its skid resistance. There is no film sitting on the driving surface.
Recommended uses
The primary use case. Both new decks being protected from day one and aged decks that have already begun to deteriorate.
Multi-story decks carrying de-icing salt in on vehicle tires through every winter.
Structures exposed to sea spray, tidal cycling and permanently high humidity.
Any reinforced surface facing carbonation, salts, sea spray or high humidity where the embedded steel is the asset at risk.
The difference is visible before any instrument is involved. Wet an untreated slab and the water goes in, darkening the concrete as it is drawn into the pore network. Wet a treated one and the water stays where it landed. That is the same behavior that keeps road salt and sea spray from traveling down to the steel.
Because CS-42 penetrates rather than coats, the surface you are looking at is still the deck's own concrete, with its own texture and its own friction. There is no film on it.
Installation
Traffic: the deck carries traffic throughout the week between the two stages, and reopens within 12 hours or less after stage 2, depending on the area coated.
Talk to our technical team for complete application specifications and site conditions for your deck.
Technical data
Product documentation
Tell us the structure, the exposure and its condition, and we will tell you whether ConcreteCare CS-42 is the right treatment for it.