How to Replace Wood Expansion Joints in Sidewalk

​text by Vicki     Sign up to get Mother Daughter Projects updates in your email!​

If you have sidewalks or driveways of a certain age you have these--wood expansion joints! These are important as they allow the concrete to expand and contract without cracking. Unfortunately, time and the elements take their toll on them. Eventually they rot and break and should be replaced.

There are a number of reasons to replace them. Having a strong solid expansion joint helps with the following:

1. Helps to inhibit the growth of weeds 
2. Helps to block water from getting below the concrete causing erosion. Erosion creates its own set of problems.
3. If the wood expansion joint has totally rotted leaving a gap, it can create a tripping/falling hazard.
4. Nice, clean looking expansion joints add instant curb appeal to your home!

There are at least three methods to replace the wood expansion joints. Each has its pros and cons but we settled on flexible vinyl gaskets due because it was very homeowner friendly, required no special tools or drying time. 

Check out the UPDATE video, 3 years later

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We ordered a sample pack which included all the various options available. We were able to test the fit and picked the one that best fit our needs.

These are the tools you'll use as well as something to cut the vinyl.

Materials/ Tools:

• Slab Gasket Sample Pack (Amazon)
• 11' 1" SlabGasket (Amazon)
• Mallet, Pliers, Pry Bar

The replacement gasket is on the far left, the middle is the old wood from the expansion joint on the right.

The gasket can easily be cut with heavy duty scissors or with a miter saw. Totally not necessary but it's handy to use so we did!

The wood in the expansion joint was looking really worn and was ready to be replaced.

The first piece of wood needed a little nudging with a hammer and pry bar but came free in one piece.

After cutting the new gasket to size it was placed into position.

This one was a tight fit so it was encouraged to fit by a rubber mallet!

The next wood joint came out without any extra tools or force.

This joint was an easy fit. We considered grinding down that high concrete slab edge, but determined it really didn't pose a tripping hazard.

The third joint was the most challenging to repair as the wood was so rotten that it came out in lots of small pieces. The gasket fit in very nicely though.

Such a great improvement over the rotten old wood!

The color of the new gaskets blends in so well you can hardly tell where they are! Are you wondering about the color of the concrete? The two tone color represents an experiment we did with the product Wet and Forget. The lighter had the product the darker did not. We will be doing a post about it.

We were very pleased with the outcome of this maintenance project. It was a very doable DIY for us and I'm sure it would be for others. We especially like that it can be finished very quickly, needs few tools, and the results look really good!

Please note: We are not sponsored by any of the companies/products that we used. These products were picked and bought by us.​​

FYI: We are not professionals, and we don’t claim to be. This is what we found worked for our project. Yours may need a little different approach. Safety first!

FYI: Affiliate links are being used on this page. Purchasing via these links help support MDP!

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