Ask Danny | Ep. 12: Concrete Network’s Founder Answers Top Questions

This week, I’m speaking to Jim Peterson, founding father of The Concrete Community. 

Jim began this on-line useful resource for owners in 1999. It supplies helpful and easy-to-understand concrete info to tens of millions of individuals yearly, and in addition connects owners to native contractors.

Concrete Fundamentals

What’s concrete, and the way is it created?

Jim: Concrete is a mixture of 4 issues: sand, cement, gravel and water. These are put collectively in sure proportions, relying on what the challenge wants. That is completed on the ready-mix plant so the house owner doesn’t fear about getting the fitting quantities. 

It’s typically known as cement, which is inaccurate. Cement is just a part of concrete. 

Rebar vs. Fiber Mesh

Which might you employ for a concrete slab: metal reinforcement wire or mesh?

Jim: At my home, or if I’m recommending to a pal, I’d use #3 bars at 18 inches on the middle. 

Wire mesh finally ends up being stepped on by the inserting crew, and dug into the sand, so it’s not within the concrete too typically. After they check concrete, they’ll typically see the mesh is on the underside, so it did no good.

Fiber mesh has some ending points and received’t present the energy of metal bars. 

Recommendation on Concrete Slabs

Jim: Concrete may be perpetually — a 40-, 50- or 60-year or extra product, so it’s one finest to be completed proper. That’s why so many individuals rent a contractor to pour a concrete slab. It’s simply not one thing you need to toy with. You will discover a contractor close to you by looking out on The Concrete Community’s web site.

It’s not a nasty thought to have an enlargement joint or a joint map made from the pour to share with the contractor and ensure the individual reducing the concrete makes these cuts.

Cuts can go below partitions and off of edges to make the job quite a bit cleaner. 

Water Content material

Is it necessary to restrict the quantity of water added to the concrete on the job? It appears to weaken the combo. 

Jim: Sure, it does. What occurs is the water rises to the highest and when the concrete is completed, the highest layer goes to be weakened and there shall be all types of issues.

Every combine has a water-to-cement ratio, and that must be stored to minimal quantities of water added on the job, if any.

Floor Harm

What would you advocate for floor harm, like salt harm or gouges? Particularly with the problem of getting a patch that blends in.

Jim: I’ll provide the infamous reply: It relies upon.

To start with, how seen is the world? Plenty of time, the patch will look quite a bit worse than what it was making an attempt to treatment. 

If the concrete is heaving, that’s an entire completely different ball sport. Any patch might be not going to remain, it’s going to come back free because the concrete continues to heave.

If it’s an necessary space, you may must tear out and change the concrete, which is a worst-case situation. 

Additionally, you possibly can sand or grind the floor a bit and do an overlay topping, and it offers you a brand new floor to work with, so long as the concrete isn’t heaving.

Stained Concrete

We used to see acid-stained slabs on a regular basis inside houses. Do you continue to see this as a robust development?

Jim: It’s nonetheless in style, and that’s not simply my opinion. We get numerous site visitors on The Concrete Community about staining concrete, in order that’s form of a voting machine.

There are two methods to attain it. 

Some folks just like the look of tile. So, say a house owner pulls up a tile flooring and so they can see the define of the tile from the place the glue was. You possibly can prep the floor, stain it, and you may nonetheless see the define of the tile for an industrial look.

In the event that they don’t like that look, they could do a micro-topping. That is getting ready the floor, placing on a topping after which staining that new floor, which supplies a model new look.

One factor to think about is the noise requirement with the concrete. It may be louder within the room, so generally folks will add on noise buffer carpet on the ceiling and partitions. 

Small Concrete Tasks

What’s your recommendation for somebody contemplating a small concrete challenge? 

Jim: In case you have a really small challenge and also you’re up for it, there’s no motive you possibly can’t do a rubbish can pad, A/C pad or a small stoop within the yard.

Simply get just a few baggage of concrete from The House Depot and blend it up and pour it. With somewhat little bit of power, some mild analysis on The Concrete Community, and watching just a few movies, your challenge ought to come out superb. 

I need to emphasize: With small initiatives like these, a concrete contractor would in all probability not reply to you anyway, so DIY is the way in which to go. 

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