Concrete: it’s everywhere. It makes our sidewalks, the foundations for our houses, and, sometimes our walls. It’s the most widely used human-made material. Concrete is a versatile and practically unavoidable material. If you have any kind of construction project coming up, you will probably need to use concrete. It’s important to know the basics of this material and how and when to use it for whatever projects may come up.
What is concrete?
Concrete is the mixture of a coarse aggregate with a cement. Most concretes are lime-based, although we use asphalt concrete for our roads. (Contrary to popular usage, concrete and cement are not the same thing.) The aggregate and cement get mixed with water to form something called slurry. Slurry is the fluid that can be easily poured into any shape. When combined with water, the cement used will harden into a stone-like substance. Most concrete is poured with reinforcing materials mixed in.
How concrete is used
Concrete is one of the most versatile building materials and has been used for millennia–Traders in the middle east were using concrete-like substances in 6500 BCE. The Roman Pantheon, built in the year 128, is still the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world. The Baha’i House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois, uses intricately-poured concrete as its decorative cladding. Most commonly, concrete is used to make sidewalks and curbs, in our walls and foundations. Most likely, your project won’t be to recreate the Pantheon; it will probably be something more immediately necessary to your home or business.
Your project
You may be using concrete to build a house, make a sidewalk, patch your driveway, or even build a pool! Concrete is a great building material because it is fire-resistant, energy-efficient, and actually gains strength over time. One of the first steps to including concrete in your project is to determine how much you will need. Fortunately, there are concrete calculators online that will take your dimensions and tell you the amount. Be ready: this stuff is heavy! Depending on what you’re building, you will need to decide on what kind of base you want for your concrete as well as what type of cement. You may want to include reinforcement materials. Consult with your contractor or builder to determine the right concrete mix for you. Most construction products require what is called ready-mix concrete, which you can get from a supplier. You can (and should) get your cement delivered right to your site. A cement supplier will bring cement, mortar, ready mix concrete, and whatever other products you may need to mix together. Of course, concrete isn’t perfect. One of the downsides of concrete is that it doesn’t look particularly interesting in its “natural state.” Often, builders choose to stamp the concrete or use a technique called stamping to help create a more interesting surface. If you’re building in cold weather, you will need to us some important precautions while you’re mixing and pouring the concrete to keep it from freezing and messing up the chemical reactions that make the concrete so strong. Earthquakes are particularly challenging for concrete. Concrete is strong in compression but weak in tension, which means that the stress can cause the concrete to fail. This can be fixed with reinforcement and retrofitting. These are mild drawbacks, though, considering the time-proven sturdiness of our favorite building material.
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