What is Concrete?

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What is Concrete?
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• As a Mississauga concrete contractor, one of our
  duties is to educate our clients so that they
  understand the process that we take to completing
  a concrete project. Why do we do this? It is so
  that you can understand exactly what it is that
  we do and take comfort that the project will be
  done right.

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• To kick off our concrete fact series, we want to
  clear the air on the definition of concrete. One
  of the many things that we hear from clients is
  the interchangeable use concrete and cement
  terminology. These words are not interchangeable
  as one of these terms is actually a subset of the
  other.
• Any ideas what that may be?

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• If you guessed that cement is an ingredient in
  concrete you are correct! Cement is just one of
  three key components of concrete. The other two
  key components are water and aggregate (which can
  be rock, sand or gravel).
• Cement (or commonly known as Portland Cement) is
  a powder that acts as a binding agent that holds
  everything together.

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• Cement is made from naturally occurring minerals
  that contain limestone (usually) and clay
  (technically known as silicon dioxide). When
  these minerals are super-heated, they chemically
  transform into hard marble-like nodules called
  clinker which is then finely grounded into a
  powder.

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• When the cement is mixed with water, it forms
  incredibly strong bonds with sand and other
  aggregates, to create this mixture which
  solidifies into one durable rock-solid mass.
  There is also the possibility that admixtures are
  added to change and/or enhance the properties of
  concrete such as tensile strength, entrainment of
  air, and/or water resistance.

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• One of the things that we do as a concrete
  contractor is make sure that the concrete is fit
  for purpose. That means that when we determine
  what the concrete area is going to be used for
  and we make sure that the ingredients are
  proportioned and engineered to produce a concrete
  of a specific strength and durability for that
  use.

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• For example, concrete that is used for a driveway
  may not necessarily be the same mixture and
  proportion of ingredients for a bridge.
• Why is that?

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• If you consider that bridge will need to support
  a car or truck or multiple cars and trucks that
  may be parked on it versus a foundation wall,
  youll understand that we want the mixture of
  ingredients to be strong enough to withstand for
  its intended use. With that being said, Markstone
  Landscaping is committed to providing clients a
  finished product that meets the Ontario Building
  Code.  

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• If you look at the following chart for concrete
  in the Ontario Building Code and CSA A23.1,
  youll see that there are minimum specifications
  of concrete that a concrete contractor must
  follow to ensure your safety and that the
  concrete is strong enough for its intended use.

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• The majority, if not all of Markstone
  Landscapings concrete projects are outdoors.
   The chart shows the minimum compressive strength
  for concrete that is exposed to freeze-thaw,
  deicing salts on walkways, driveways, patios, and
  steps is 32 MPa.  MPa (megapascals) is the metric
  measurement for psi or pounds per square inch and
  it is how the concrete industry measures strength
  capacity.

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• We make sure that when we order the concrete it
  meets this specific requirement.
• Lastly, we are fans of concrete because it is
  virtually all natural and its recyclable. 

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• It is also flexible and functional which can be
  fabricated into all sorts of shapes and
  structural systems which makes it a heavy
  favourite as a construction material to be used
  in todays skyscrapers, canals, dams, pipes,
  roads, houses, sidewalks/walkways, and even your
  driveway.

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• We hope that you find this informative and feel
  free to reach out to us with any questions.
• http//markstonelandscaping.com/