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

This week, I’m chatting to Jim Peterson, founder of The Concrete Network. 

Jim started off this on the web resource for property owners in 1999. It supplies useful and straightforward-to-recognize concrete info to tens of millions of persons each and every yr, and also connects owners to neighborhood contractors.

Concrete Essentials

What is concrete, and how is it made?

Jim: Concrete is a combination of 4 factors: sand, cement, gravel and drinking water. These are place together in certain proportions, depending on what the task requires. This is finished at the all set-blend plant so the home owner doesn’t stress about receiving the ideal amounts. 

It is often referred to as cement, which is incorrect. Cement is only section of concrete. 

Rebar vs. Fiber Mesh

Which would you use for a concrete slab: metal reinforcement wire or mesh?

Jim: At my property, or if I’m recommending to a close friend, I would use #3 bars at 18 inches on the middle. 

Wire mesh ends up getting stepped on by the putting crew, and dug into the sand, so it’s not in the concrete too often. When they test concrete, they’ll usually see the mesh is on the base, so it did no good.

Fiber mesh has some finishing issues and won’t deliver the energy of steel bars. 

Information on Concrete Slabs

Jim: Concrete can be permanently — a 40-, 50- or 60-year or much more product, so it is one particular greatest to be completed ideal. Which is why so several persons seek the services of a contractor to pour a concrete slab. It is just not a thing you want to toy with. You can discover a contractor around you by exploring on The Concrete Network’s web page.

It is not a lousy strategy to have an growth joint or a joint map built of the pour to share with the contractor and make guaranteed the individual chopping the concrete helps make these cuts.

Cuts can go underneath partitions and off of edges to make the occupation a large amount cleaner. 

Water Written content

Is it essential to restrict the amount of money of drinking water extra to the concrete on the career? It looks to weaken the blend. 

Jim: Yes, it does. What happens is the drinking water rises to the major and when the concrete is finished, the leading layer is likely to be weakened and there will be all kinds of difficulties.

Each and every blend has a water-to-cement ratio, and that should be kept to least quantities of water added on the task, if any.

Surface area Hurt

What would you endorse for area injury, like salt problems or gouges? In particular with the problem of having a patch that blends in.

Jim: I’ll give you the notorious reply: It relies upon.

First of all, how obvious is the place? A good deal of time, the patch will appear a large amount worse than what it was making an attempt to remedy. 

If the concrete is heaving, which is a whole distinctive ball video game. Any patch is most likely not heading to keep, it’s heading to arrive loose as the concrete carries on to heave.

If it is an significant space, you may well need to tear out and exchange the concrete, which is a worst-scenario situation. 

Also, you can sand or grind the floor a bit and do an overlay topping, and it provides you a new floor to perform with, as lengthy as the concrete is not heaving.

Stained Concrete

We applied to see acid-stained slabs all the time inside of residences. Do you however see this as a strong development?

Jim: It’s however common, and which is not just my impression. We get a great deal of traffic on The Concrete Network about staining concrete, so that is sort of a voting machine.

There are two techniques to realize it. 

Some persons like the seem of tile. So, say a property owner pulls up a tile ground and they can see the outline of the tile from where the glue was. You can prep the surface, stain it, and you can however see the define of the tile for an industrial appear.

If they really don’t like that glimpse, they may do a micro-topping. This is getting ready the surface area, placing on a topping and then staining that new surface area, which provides a model new glance.

A single factor to contemplate is the sounds requirement with the concrete. It can be louder in the area, so occasionally men and women will increase on sound buffer carpet on the ceiling and partitions. 

Little Concrete Projects

What is your tips for anyone looking at a modest concrete project? 

Jim: If you have a really smaller project and you’re up for it, there’s no rationale you simply cannot do a rubbish can pad, A/C pad or a little stoop in the yard.

Just get a few baggage of concrete from The Dwelling Depot and combine it up and pour it. With a small bit of vitality, some gentle study on The Concrete Community, and observing a several films, your job should occur out wonderful. 

I want to emphasize: With little jobs like these, a concrete contractor would most likely not react to you in any case, so Do-it-yourself is the way to go. 

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