Frequent Asked Questions
Home » Frequent Asked Questions
The terms cement and concrete are all too often mistakenly used to refer to the same thing. However, one should keep in mind that they are different. To give a bird’s eye view, cement is one of the components of concrete. On the other hand, concrete is a composite substance that is made by mixing crushed rock and sand with wet cement. The role of cement in the mixture is that is serves as a glue that holds everything together. When still dry and unmixed with water, cement is a gray powdery material. When dried, a hardened rock-like mass is formed.
Yes. It is possible to have many varying kinds of concrete. Although there may be measurements and proportions that are good enough for almost everything, you can still do some tweaking if you want the concrete you will for a certain application to be the absolute best. However, this is best done under the guidance of a professional who knows what certain changes will produce. Adding more rock and less sand can change the quality of the concrete. This is an example of a variant of concrete that may fare better in a situation where more compressive strength is needed.
We bet that you do. There is no shame in needing a concrete contractor. In fact, hiring one for your project might be one of the best things that you can do. This is because professionals will know how to handle every phase of the project properly. This will greatly reduce mistakes, which is ideal if you are aiming for something perfect for your property. A concrete contractor has the right tools and skills to make sure that everything is done correctly. They can also make recommendations in the next steps that you should take, as well as in the design options for your structure.
It should not. Concrete pouring should be avoided at any given time that it is foreseen to rain. At our company, part of the mitigation measures that we do is making sure that we check with the weather report first before a major pour. As a last resort, we also bring tarps that are enough to cover the area. Rain and concrete will not mix well, literally. Hence, it will be for the best id they are kept apart. The added water from the rain can distort the balance of the mixture, and this can be bad for the overall quality of the concrete.
Yes, concrete can be painted, and for your next concrete painting project, you should make sure that you are using a paint variant known as elastomeric or masonry paint. This is the only kind of paint that can stick well on the concrete under all conditions. It contains some additional chemicals not found in other kinds of paint that will facilitate this improved adhesion. Hence, it will not peel off easily. Painting is a goo option for coloring concrete because there are so many colors available. If you are into it, you can also have unique shades mixed just for you.
In most cases, the cracking of concrete cannot be blamed upon just one thing. Usually, it is the interplay of many potential causes that will eventually lead into the cracking of concrete. It may be helpful to be familiar with some of these factors so you can somehow help prevent any untoward incident that can result in cracking. The greatest of the contributing factors is the quality of how the concrete was placed. Poor mixing and pouring of concrete can cause it to have low maximum strength. Some specific problems include adding excessive water. This adds excess volume to the concrete.
The minimum number of days that you must allow to pass before even thinking about using your driveway is seven days at least, but ideally, ten days. This number of days is counted from the day of pouring. By this time, concrete will normally have set by about 90% of the strength that it is expected to have. So, it is already safe enough for you to drive upon it. However, think twice about parking on it. Usually, concrete is not stable enough for static weight until after 30 days. If you want to avoid early damage, follow these instructions.
Concrete sealer is the general category of products that can be applied on the surface of concrete structure to give it some protection against minor damages. There can be several types of active ingredients. Among the common ones that will be readily available in stores are those that contain acrylic, polyurethane, epoxy, and other types of penetrating resin. Actually, you will not need the help of any professional to apply this. if you have a roller or a sprayer, you can easily finish this. even when applied only very seldom such as every two to five years, the protection will be obvious.
Yes, it is very much affected by the weather. Among the major weather entities that may produce some damage or any adverse effects on the concrete are temperature and precipitation. The effect of precipitation or rain may be obvious. One of the main components of concrete is water, but extra amount from the rain can make the balance off. On the other hand, freezing conditions will also not be ideal. Concrete needs heat to be able to properly react. When all heat is taken away, it is possible that the wet concrete freezes before it even had the chance to properly solidify.
For this, we have to remind you that the cheaper option is not always the better buy. It will be better to be critical about the differences between asphalt and cement. Generally, asphalt is softer and has a less dense consistency than cement. This means that it has less compressive strength. With this, it will need reinforcement more often which will not be for free. On the other hand, concrete can be used as a driveway for 20 to 30 years without once needing repair. Asphalt is usually good for 10 to 20 years, but there will be numerous maintenances to be done to make it last that long.
There is no one mix proportion that is generally accepted as the only ‘correct’ concrete mix proportion. What we do have though is the tried and tested formula that we can use for many situations. This is known as the 4-2-1 mixture. This will have four-sevenths of crushed rock combined with two-sevenths of sand, and one-seventh for cement. This is the formula that we sue if there no special considerations for a certain structure. This is already great for most applications. However, we can still make modifications for special circumstances. For example, slight tweaking in the proportions can produce a stronger concrete.
As far as recyclability is concerned concrete is great. This is because it is an inert material, and it can be processed again. Since the product of hardened concrete have similarities to rock and sand, it can be treated as such so that it can be recycled into aggregate materials. For us, we take the scrap concrete coming from the demolition sites to recycling centers. Here, they will be converted into the right characteristics that will make them suitable as a material for new concrete structures. They can be crushed to serve as the rock part or pulverized to imitate sand.
Testing concrete will provide us with information about it that cannot be readily assessed by just visual inspection. This means that it can help detect anything that has gone wrong with concrete which may be impossible to detect by the naked eye. The information that we can learn from each test may tell us what else can still be done to improve the quality of the concrete based on its current state. Some examples of the tests we routinely conduct are the slump test and the measurement of air content. Simple as they are, they can give enough information that will guide our interventions.
The process is simple and easy, and this may be repeated if needed. Anyone can do this, even without hiring a professional cleaner. All you need is the kind of cleaning substance and some type of scrub or brush. Ideally, the cleaning substance that you should use one that contains the compound called sodium triphosphate. This reacts best for the removal of stains. If this is not available to you, a regular household laundry detergent is a good enough alternative. Make sure that you first allow the stain to soak for not less than half an hour. You can scrub after.
No matter how simple it is, maintenance is still maintenance, so yes, concrete will require it. However, it will just be simple and not as extensive as you may expect. For example, the simple act of cleaning that is routinely performed by all property owners is already a form of maintenance even if it does not feel like it. Those that may be a little more technical will include the application of a concrete sealer that needs to be repeated every after a few years. Lastly, inspecting your concrete is also part of maintenance since this can be the first step in repair.
There really no specific rule requiring concrete to be gray. There is also no special colorant added to achieve this hue. The color is just a result of the colors of the ingredients combined. As an artificially combined and produced material with a definite formula, it is cement that will most reliably contribute to this gray color. Digging deeper, the gray of concrete comes from one of its essential components, the iron ore. This is a black substance. Other materials need to be mixed with this to produce concrete. So, upon mixture of the black substance with something lighter, gray is the result.
Concrete gains strength by a long and intricate process which involves chemical reactions like hydration. Hydration is what happens when cement and water are combined. In essence, water hydrates concrete to activate it. Together, they form a gooey paste like material which in turn serves as a kind of glue that will hold the aggregate materials together. This can only happen while the concrete is wet, or while water is present. With that, by the time that the concrete has completely dried, it is implied that the chemical reactions have also been completed, resulting in set concrete that is dry and hard.