Blog articles of concrete from a reputable concrete contractor

Concrete will expand and contract with moisture and climate changes. The change in volume of the concrete will cause concrete to crack. Control joints are either tooled or most often machined sawed to give the newly poured concrete a designated weakened place to crack during curing time shrinkage and later once hardened due to curing and climate changes, as it takes 28 days for concrete to cure to 90% of its hardness.

Control joints are placed strategically to give the concrete a place to move, and in essence crack. Please note that it is not a guarantee however that it will not crack in another area.

Control relief joints can also be achieved by using expansion joint material approximately ¼” to ½” in thickness. It is either sponge rubber, plastic or other material highly weather resilient. Expansion joint is usually used when concrete is poured to join or abut an existing slab or structure of any type. It can also be used in place of hand tooled joints and sawed joints as well.

All concrete cracks. If your control joints has done its job in designating where that crack will be, it will leave your concrete looking its best.

When you want new concrete poured for your next project, you might want to consider what type of finish to have your concrete contractor use on your new concrete.

When you have a concrete contractor that is a very good finisher, you will have a beautiful flat slab of concrete that has been hand troweled. You want the concrete closed up, meaning not seeing and small holes at the surface. You also should not have any dips, or unevenness. No chatter or trowel marks as well.

If pouring your new concrete outside where you have concerns of it becoming slippery when raining and getting wet, then you should consider either adding silica sand when sealing your concrete or having your concrete contractor apply a very light broom finish on it. If done correctly, it does not affect the look much at all. You should avoid extremely rough finished concrete as it can lead to tripping and can be difficult for the elderly or young ones to walk on. It is also not something you want to walk on with bare feet.

You will see these types of rough finishes when a concrete finisher is hiding his ability to know how to finish the concrete properly.

This is the time of year that I get a lot of phone calls due to the nasty mud and water standing on many peoples driveways and walkways that are not paved with concrete or the like material. The reason for this is due to the frost is not out of the soil and the ground underneath these areas. The frost line is where the groundwater in the soil freezes due to freezing conditions in those states affected. In this frozen state the soil can not drain the water laying on top of which is melting due to the springtime change in temperature. Draining of the melting snow will happen as the frost line subsides and all the frost is out of the ground...

With this being the worst winter on record for St. Joseph, Michigan, it has also been the toughest on existing concrete. The more it snows the more salt the county has to put on the roadways in an attempt to try and keep them clear of ice and snow for safe travel. Salt is extremely corrosive to concrete.

When you take your automobile out on these roads, you bring back home with you road brin. These salts and deicers then can lay havoc very quickly to your concrete very quickly going right through concrete sealers even. The worse the winter the more this process happens over and over again. This might leave even the best sealed concrete with some concrete repair work. Even if you try and keep it cleaned off.

The repairs can be made to look natural and will hold up if patched properly. It is best to leave this up to your concrete contractor as to get the patching material to adhere correctly and hold up for years to come ..

Welcome to our blog. We hope you find it informative with questions you might have when researching your new concrete driveway, concrete sidewalk, concrete patio, stained concrete or any other project.

We will make post on new design techniques, process and concrete materials. We try to stay up to date on on the newest innovations pertaining to paving!