How to fix my garden path?

Graham: Good morning, I live in Hoppers Crossing, have a house about 15 years old and it’s got paths around it but they’re cracking away from the house. Is that a heavy fix or an easy fix? 

Phil (Nupave): I’m imagining you’ve got a little bit of what we’d call fretting around the edge of the concrete as it’s moved from the house. Was there a rubber compound or what we call ? flex?

Graham: No, there wasn’t.

Phil (Nupave): That would have been helpful. Look in Hoppers Crossing, you’ve got reactive soil, and certainly over a period of 15 years it will move, you’ll probably find that if you look very carefully of where it used to be your concrete would have probably dropped down 20mm, you’ll probably see the line of where it originally was. The only way to avoid things like that is to drill in dowel bars into the side of the concrete to secure it but I don’t think that’s a good idea.

Radio Host: But what about your sealer? I mean the rubber compound, can you retro apply that? And the answer is yes.

Phil (Nupave): Oh you could put a silicone.

Radio Host: I mean just for appearances sake because obviously the reactive clays are going to move it. 

Phil (Nupave): It’ll need to be done again down the track    

Radio Host: But that’s why your advise, Phillip to Graham, of providing something that is flexible in the compounds, so rubber is spot on, because it’s going to have a bit of flex in it Graham. And it’ll look better, and you can get it in all sorts of colours. 

Phil (Nupave): Before you seal it up though, probably a good idea to get your termite treatment around the edge while you’ve got the cavity there. 

Graham: Yeah, beautiful, thanks guys.