Page 6 – Concrete Ideas

Why Maturix® Is Leading the Concrete Sensor Market with Next-Gen Tech

September 13, 2021September 13, 2021 Dwayne Ferguson Concrete

Technology is always evolving. That hasn’t been any less true for the concrete monitoring field. Not long ago, contractors were relying solely on field-cured concrete cylinders to understand the compressive strength development of their concrete. It was a time-consuming process with room for error. After all, field-cured cylinders cure at a different rate than concrete placed en masse. And they need to be transported for testing off-site. But now, there are many concrete sensors available on the market to simplify this process and provide more accurate insight into concrete strength.

One in particular has drawn attention over the past year or so. That would be the Maturix Smart Concrete Sensors. These next-gen sensors are helping to lead the sensor market, drawing interest from all over, and we’re here to explain why that is and why you should join the excitement.

Maturix Sensors Offer Award-Winning Concrete Monitoring

These heavy-duty sensors transmit concrete temperature data directly to a cloud-based platform and calculate concrete strength from there on a regular basis each day. That process allows them to provide builders with real-time remote concrete monitoring.

Their setup is relatively simple too. It starts with our Maturix expert creating an online account for builders. So all builders need to do is log in when ready. From there, they attach a cost-effective thermocouple wire to rebar. That in turn gets plugged into Maturix’s transmitting sensor, which is located outside the concrete placement. Builders can then start or refine the monitoring start time remotely through any device that can access a web browser.

That way, contractors can eliminate the time, labor, and money required to physically go to the worksite to collect data on concrete placements. Instead, they can easily access their concrete data 24/7 through the Maturix platform. They can also receive online alerts through Maturix software. That lets them know exactly when their concrete’s temperature has exceeded critical thresholds or fallen out of spec and when their concrete’s compressive strength has been met. For concrete strength validation in particular, that can save up to three days per pour.

Due to Maturix’s ability to streamline concrete monitoring in such a cost-effective way, the sensors earned a Most Innovative Product Award in 2020. And it wasn’t long after that when they garnered additional attention. Soon, they starred in an article about the future of concrete sensor technology, already showing just how much of an impact these sensors made.

On Top of That, They Are Built to Last Long

To add to their award-winning appeal, the Maturix Sensors have been redesigned. They can now withstand the harshest construction and precast manufacturing environments.

Given a durable casing that increases their resistance to both water and dust, these sensors will last for more than the entirety of one project. And unlike other sensors, Maturix Sensors are not gone after a single use. Instead, the thermocouple wires attached to the sensors are disposable. That way, the sensors can be used for as many pours as a contractor likes. That makes them ideal for those who are looking for a streamlined cost-effective solution on monitoring concrete temperature, maturity, and strength.

Both These Features Help to Ease Worksite Information Sharing

With the ability to provide instant updates on concrete development and remain operational for many pours, Maturix Sensors make it easier to share information. There’s no concern about needing to replace them, after all. So contractors can instead focus on what’s important: the data surrounding their concrete’s development.

Because that data is received instantaneously, contractors can remain fully aware of any potential issues that might develop. Whether there’s a need to manage the mass concrete differential, cold weather, or hot weather, Maturix Sensors can ensure contractors know about it before it becomes a problem.

However, that doesn’t have to benefit just contractors. If other worksite team members need to know this information, a contractor only has to send that data in the form of a report with the press of a button through the Maturix cloud-based platform. That report will then be transmitted digitally to whoever needs it, expediting report work and worksite approvals in the process with very little effort required.

Contractors don’t have to worry about losing that report data either. The Maturix platform ensures that all data is logged and backed up, so contractors and their team have documentation associated with their project, which can help reduce liability.

ll of Which Has Helped Create a Number of Success Stories

After hearing about Maturix and trying it out for themselves, many contractor companies were happy to report their own success stories with Maturix features.

They’ve Helped The Walsh Group Ltd. Streamline the Monitoring of Multiple Wall Placements

In an interview with our Maturix specialist, Kris Till, Tanner Santo, a superintendent for The Walsh Group Ltd., stated that there were “a lot of moving parts and challenging logistics” to constructing the Southeast Treatment Plant in San Francisco. The company had to determine how to monitor 300 to 400 wall placements. And they had to determine how to minimize any downtime while doing so.

Their original process for this would have been time-consuming and costly. They would need to take multiple concrete cylinder samples, which would add on to the cost of the work. And they would also need to wait for a testing lab to determine when the concrete had reached minimum strength. Without the testing lab’s go-ahead, they would have to wait to remove the formwork, prolonging the progress of their work.

To expedite this process, The Walsh Group Ltd. decided to add Maturix. That streamlined their monitoring significantly. Santo was able to receive notifications on his cell phone, letting him know when the concrete reached minimal strength. As a result, he and his team did not have to take additional concrete samples or wait for a go-ahead and could safely strip formwork, knowing just when the concrete had hit minimal strength.

nd They’ve Improved the Documentation and Quality Control Processes for Kruse Smith

Hoping to innovate technologically and improve their on-site performance, the Norwegian contractor Kruse Smith also chose to work with Maturix. They made this decision with their work on the E39 highway project in mind specifically.

One of their biggest concerns surrounding this work was dealing with the weather. They would be working in freezing temperatures with lots of ice and snow. So they had to protect their concrete from freezing before it cured.

For previous projects, they kept an eye on this concern with manual data loggers. They were digital, but they didn’t transmit data online. As a result, Kruse Smith had to send out workers to physically check their concrete placements individually to collect temperature data. Then, the workers would have to do analytical work based on the information they recorded to get any insight from that data.

With Maturix during their E39 project, however, they received that information instantaneously through an Internet-connected device, which came with generated graphs and analysis already there. So there was less work involved for faster, more accurate results.

In turn, that allowed them to focus more on better active documentation and quality control. They could bring that data up in meetings with team members and their client to discuss the progress of their work and what they could improve. It created a lot of transparency and trust. And it made it easier to spot any possible issues with temperature drops or a slower concrete curing process.

That Just Proves How Reliable and Cost-Effective Maturix Is in the Long Run

In just a short while, Maturix has won an award for its technology and has proven itself out in the field as a reliable tool for saving contractors time and money when they monitor concrete. From streamlining the monitoring of around 300 to 400 concrete wall placements for The Walsh Group Ltd. to enhancing Kruse Smith’s active documentation and quality control, Maturix Sensors show that it’s possible to simplify concrete monitoring and cut costs without losing the quality and accuracy contractors are looking for in a worksite.

The post Why Maturix® Is Leading the Concrete Sensor Market with Next-Gen Tech appeared first on Kryton.

5 Reasons to Choose a Rip Rap Retaining Wall

September 8, 2021September 8, 2021 Dwayne Ferguson Concrete

A retaining wall is necessary for any landscape project.

Without them, shorelines will quickly erode or flood, and gardens become overgrown with weeds.

The most popular type of retaining wall is the traditional concrete block style that has been around since the 1950s.

However, plenty of other options are available. One such option is a type of limestone called rip rap.

This bulky stone offers an array of benefits. When used as a retaining wall, it’s:

1. Aesthetically pleasing

A rip rap retaining wall is an attractive way to add some interest and excitement to your yard or city shoreline. The irregular shapes of the stones give it a more natural, rustic look that complements a variety of styles.

2. Eco-friendly

Because limestone can be obtained from quarries, it has less environmental impact than other materials like concrete and steel. It is also a sedimentary rock, which means that it’s formed over time from the weathering of other rocks.

The process of obtaining limestone does not involve chemical treatments or strong acids like some materials do. It helps to protect the environment and human health during and after its creation.

In addition, limestone is a natural sponge that absorbs water. This makes it an especially good choice for areas like the South that experience heavy rainfall and hurricanes.

3. Great for protection against the elements and erosion

Thanks to its irregular shape, rip rap can be useful in more urban areas to protect buildings from heavy rains and flooding. It also prevents soil at construction sites from getting washed away by rainfall or runoff water that carries mud and silt into nearby waterways.

4. Long-lasting

Rip rap is a long-lasting material that can remain in your landscape for many years. Since it’s made from limestone, you can also rely on this material for its strength and durability. Unlike certain materials like cinder blocks, rip rap will not break down over time.

In addition, the limestone itself has been around since prehistoric times and will likely be here until another type of rock comes along to replace it. This provides an excellent return on investment compared with materials like wood or plastic which need replacing every few decades.

5. Easy to maintain

One of the final benefits of rip rap is that it’s easy to maintain. Unlike traditional concrete block walls, you don’t need to replace these stones since they’re not attached together with mortar or cement.

Instead, each stone rests on top of the other and can be removed when necessary (if repairs are needed or if you want to create a new design).

In addition, the irregular shapes and sizes of rip rap makes it easy to find just what you need for your project, whether that’s one large piece or several smaller ones. This is unlike many other types of retaining wall stone which are sold in pre-cut pieces.

Port Aggregates offers three types of rip rap: 10lb rip rap (6-10”), 30lb rip rap, and 55lb rip rap. Whether your goal is to prevent erosion or simply create a garden, we’ve got just what you need. Our high-quality crushed limestone is available in numerous sizes to suit your special needs. Contact us today to request a quote

The post 5 Reasons to Choose a Rip Rap Retaining Wall appeared first on Port Aggregates.

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https://www.concreteideas.co/?p=1214

Concrete Abrasion Resistance: The Bad, the Good, and the Better (Interview Part 2)

September 7, 2021September 7, 2021 Dwayne Ferguson Landscaping Improvement

In our first part of this interview series, we discussed why concrete abrasion is such an issue for concrete construction and how it’s often treated. (For all the details, give it a read!) Most of the solutions discussed were shown to be complicated and ineffective. But we ended on a positive note, briefly talking about a solution that could offer a more worry-free way to increase concrete abrasion resistance.

That solution turned out to be Hard-Cem. As the only integral concrete hardener on the market, it offers a unique advantage to construction workers. With Hard-Cem, workers only have to add it to the concrete mix during batching, and that’s it. Hard-Cem doesn’t need a complicated application process and has been shown to be effective at what it does. And what it does is double your concrete’s wear life while increasing your concrete’s resistance to abrasion and erosion.

But is all that too good to be true? How does Hard-Cem actually perform? To look into it, we asked our previous contributors, Technical Director Jeff Bowman and Kryton Western Canada Territory Manager John Andersen, to give us the details.

So, why don’t we start by talking about the performance you can expect to see when you use Hard-Cem for increased concrete abrasion resistance?

Jeff: To answer that, let’s first review some of the test methods you could use for abrasion resistance.

There are several established test methods published by ASTM. But the one I’d like to highlight today is ASTM C627 (also known as the Robinson floor test based on the machine that is used for the testing).

Now, what’s really interesting about this test is that it applies a much higher load and a much longer test duration than many of the other methods that people might use.

And early in the days of Hard-Cem’s development, Dr. Rusty Morgan, working with AMEC, recommended using this test and adapting it to increase the load and the test time to make it more useful as a test for the abrasion resistance of concrete. One of the advantages of this adaption is that because the test panel is quite large, it allows you to get a more realistic look at real-world finishing conditions that you might use for your concrete.

Essentially, during the test, wheels rotate around the concrete, allowing you to measure the depth of wear directly just by using a pair of depth calipers.

A common result for this is a very straightforward, plain concrete mix of 25 MPa [3,000 psi] with about 1.8 mm of wear depth. And after 5,000 revolutions, the depth of wear of the Hard-Cem concrete is reduced by about half compared to your plain concrete. So it creates a very significant increase in the abrasion resistance of that slab.

How does Hard-Cem perform against competing products like dry shakes?

Jeff: There are a range of dry shake materials, products, and aggregates.

Some of them do perform really well.

But if you look at our Robinson floor test results comparing Hard-Cem with different dry shakes, Hard-Cem came in with the lowest wear depth at just under 1 mm, whereas other dry shakes that were tested next to it had around 1 mm to 3 mm of wear depth.

So, you’re getting excellent abrasion resistance and you’re getting the additional advantage of a simple and reliable installation. And you’re not making any compromises on the performance of that concrete.

re there any case studies about Hard-Cem’s performance?

John: Certainly! I can share a couple right now.

This first one happened 14 years ago. It was a CorLiving facility that was built half with Hard-Cem concrete and half with regular concrete. So it was a good in-service test of control concrete versus the performance you can see with Hard-Cem concrete.

The facility team later invited us in to have a look at the facility’s concrete to see how it performed. And there was a clear visual divide. In one area, it was nice and shiny with nice, straight edges on the concrete. This was the Hard-Cem concrete, and it was right next to the regular concrete, which had broken edges and was worn out and dusty.

It’s a good example of what you can see when you put Hard-Cem in your concrete.

Another good example is this second case study for a concrete company. They placed Hard-Cem concrete in the exit area for their concrete batch plant trucks as a way to demonstrate the performance of Hard-Cem to their customers.

After four years, they came back and took a look, and you could see the control concrete with the heavy machinery, loaders, and concrete trucks driving over it. It was really ground down and its concrete paste had worn away, whereas with the Hard-Cem concrete, you could still clearly see the original broom finish marks in it and its paste was completely intact.

We’ve proven that Hard-Cem can be highly effective with no application hassle. But does it have any other benefits worth talking about? We’ll look more into that on the third and final part of this interview series.

The post Concrete Abrasion Resistance: The Bad, the Good, and the Better (Interview Part 2) appeared first on Kryton.

4 Reasons Why You Should Use Concrete in Your Next Project

September 1, 2021February 19, 2022 Dwayne Ferguson Concrete

Around the world, concrete is one of the most commonly used materials in construction.

From concrete patios and walls, to intricate fountains and fireplaces, this versatile material is perfect for any project in your home or business.

In this blog post, we will discuss four reasons why concrete should be the building material you choose for your next project.

1. Strength and Resilience

The secret to concrete’s durability is all in the science. When cement is mixed with water, a chemical reaction called hydration occurs. This reaction bonds the two substances together rather than just holding them together. The resulting chemical bond prevents concrete from crumbling, breaking apart, or pitting.

Concrete’s strength and durability allow it to withstand even the most extreme conditions, such as underwater environments, deserts, and extremely cold climates. It’s one of the most fire-resistant materials, and doesn’t burn like wood or other organic fixtures.

Not only is concrete strong, but it also gets stronger as it ages–unlike other construction materials that erode over time. This process is called hardening, and it occurs as a result of the formation of calcium silicate hydrate as the cement continues to hydrate. The integrity of concrete can last for decades. On average, you can expect concrete to last three times longer than most building materials.

2. Low Maintenance

Once concrete is poured and set, the job is pretty much complete. Unlike other building materials, concrete requires little to no maintenance; there’s no need to worry about discoloration or laborious upkeep.

3. Versatility

Concrete can be applied in numerous ways — hand-applied, sprayed, pumped, poured, and more. When freshly mixed, it is malleable enough to be poured and molded into anything. Builders can even replicate the appearance of wood or bricks by stamping the concrete.

You’re really only limited by your own imagination when you pour concrete. From stamping designs to creating elaborate patterns, there are endless design possibilities, making it a first choice for many builders.

4. Affordability

One of the greatest benefits of concrete is its affordability. Because concrete can be poured into just about any shape or size, it does not require extra materials to maintain its form. As a result, the overall cost of your project will be significantly less than if you were trying to work with other building materials such as tile or stone.

On top of that, concrete’s low maintenance combined with its durability reduce the overall operating costs and insurance. Even after disasters, rebuilds are a lot less cost exhaustive than they are with other materials.

If you’re looking for a cost-effective, versatile, and long-term solution, concrete is the best material for the job, and our dedicated experts here at Port Aggregates have you covered. Contact us today to start your next concrete project!

The post 4 Reasons Why You Should Use Concrete in Your Next Project appeared first on Port Aggregates.

Building a Home in a Hurricane-Prone Area: What You Need to Know

August 24, 2021February 19, 2022 Dwayne Ferguson Concrete

For the majority of south and east coast residents, the fear of hurricane season is at the forefront of their minds.

As global warming continues to worsen, we can anticipate these storms to get progressively stronger over time.

Understandably, this creates a great amount of fear for everyone and likely leaves you wondering what you can do to prevent damage the next time around.

When building a house in these hurricane-prone areas, you should always talk to your contractor about your options. They will likely present to you two choices: wood and precast concrete

The benefits of both materials are endless, but there are also disadvantages to consider.

Today, we’re going to take a look at some of the pros and cons of each material, so you can make an informed decision about which one is right for your needs.

Wood

Pros

One of the biggest benefits of wood is that it’s a relatively cheap material compared to precast concrete. It can be made from a variety of resources, such as bamboo or cedar, which will make it more eco-friendly in the long term. Wood is also easier to alter and transport if you’re not happy with the structure of your home once it’s built.

Cons

Wood does not stand up well against high winds in a storm. Not to mention, it will only add fuel to the fire if you live in an area where forest fires are common. Wood structures may also have to be replaced more often than precast concrete and other building materials, thanks to decay from termites or other natural occurrences.

Precast Concrete

Pros

Precast concrete is stronger, heavier, and more durable than wood when it comes to withstanding bad storms or hurricanes. There are also a variety of precast concrete materials to choose from, which can allow you to get creative with your architectural design.

Concrete lasts for decades against all forces of nature, is a better insulator than wood, and is resistant to termites.

Cons

Unfortunately, concrete isn’t technically environmentally-friendly, but this is the sacrifice you’ll have to make to save your house during a hurricane.

Precast concrete is also more expensive and time-consuming than wood structures during the building process, but you truly get what you pay for in this industry.

If you’re looking for a material that will withstand a hurricane, then precast concrete is your best bet. At Port Aggregates, we offer the highest quality concrete in the state, which is why we’ve been a trusted industry professional for over 40 years. Contact us today to request a quote

The post Building a Home in a Hurricane-Prone Area: What You Need to Know appeared first on Port Aggregates.

Why You Should Hire Professional Concrete Contractors For Your Job

August 11, 2021February 19, 2022 Barbara Lambert Concrete concrete, concrete company, concrete contractors, concrete services, construction

Hiring professional concrete contractors at https://www.concretecontractorstampa.net is advantageous in several ways. Not only can your project be done on time, but you will be guaranteed that it’s done correctly and professionally. In addition to this, hiring these types of people is going to save you a great deal of time. Concrete can be a tough job to do on your own, so it’s best to get professionals who know all the tricks upfront to make it a success. These are some of the benefits to getting these types of services to help with your concrete projects:

One of the first reasons why professional concrete contractors are so beneficial is because they can save money. They don’t have to go into the field by themselves and learn all of the necessary steps. This means that they can offer their expertise at a lower price to you since they are going to use their existing knowledge to cut down on the amount of work that needs to be done. It will also help them keep costs down by not having to hire helpers, pay for expensive equipment or supplies, or spend time learning about the specific kinds of tools that they need for a particular job. These types of workers will be able to complete a job in a shorter period of time because they will know exactly what needs to be done to get the job done right the first time.

Another reason why it’s smart to consider hiring professional concrete contractors is because they can do a variety of different jobs. Some of the projects require concrete repair. These repairs can include anything from cracks to patches in the stone itself. Other types of projects require the digging of trenches and other large structures. Then there are the painting jobs that can help to make the entire area look better than it did before, without actually changing the underlying materials.

Concrete contractors also help in the preparation process as well as the actual construction project. The latest projects in the concrete industry include robotic machinery that can cut down the amount of time that it takes for an engineer to figure out what needs to be done in any particular situation. There are many things that can go wrong on a construction project, and it can be very time consuming to try to figure everything out. The latest developments in technology can help to speed up the process and to make it easier to figure out what needs to be done in a timely manner.

There are many other benefits that you can take advantage of when it comes to hiring professional concrete contractors. For example, they have the ability to design plans that will match your needs perfectly. They also have the ability to build large structures using the latest technology. Now, this doesn’t mean that you will be getting the newest and best model on the market. However, it does mean that you will be getting plans that will work with your budget and meet all of the needs that you have for your construction project.

In addition to these benefits, hiring professional concrete contractors can also help to get your job done right. As mentioned above, they are the ones that will be designing the plans to fit your needs. Therefore, they will know exactly what materials you need to use and when the best time to do those materials is. In most cases, you won’t even have to worry about doing some of the work yourself. The professionals can handle all of the necessary planning, and then they will complete the job in a timely manner.

One way to save money on your construction project is to hire professional concrete contractors. They will not only help to save you money, but they will also help you achieve a professional look in your building. This means that you will be able to get the most out of your investment because you won’t be paying anyone to do any of the work for you. You can save money while you are working on the project and it will be because the contractors are doing all of the hard work for you.

Although professional concrete contractors may cost you more, they will definitely offer you a better quality product than if you were to do the work yourself. This is because the professionals have years of experience in the field, and as a result, they will be able to offer you the products that are better than you would have been able to do yourself. If you want to save money on your next construction project, you should consider hiring a professional concrete stain dealer instead of a DIY enthusiast. This way, you will get a better product, and you will be saving money in the process. Plus, you will be saving time by not having to do any of the work yourself!

Concrete Abrasion Resistance: The Bad, the Good, and the Better (Interview Part 1)

August 7, 2021August 7, 2021 Dwayne Ferguson Landscaping Improvement

When it comes to getting a durable concrete slab, a critical part of it involves keeping the concrete resistant to abrasion. Without that resistance, construction professionals will often encounter ruts, dips, potholes, or worse in the surface of their concrete. All of which can lead to safety hazards and operational inefficiencies.

Professionals usually try to counter this with conventional surface-applied concrete hardening solutions. But these aren’t reliably effective and come with a number of setbacks.

To look into why that is, we’ve decided to explore the bad, the good, and the better parts about concrete abrasion resistance. Helping us in this discovery are two of our Smart Concrete experts: Jeff Bowman, one of our technical directors, and John Andersen, our territory manager for Western Canada. To start, let’s dive into some of the negative aspects surrounding concrete abrasion resistance.

Thank you for joining us on the first part of this interview series. Let’s start by discussing what abrasion actually is and why it is an issue for concrete in the first place.

Jeff: Abrasion describes the steady loss of material from the concrete through some sort of mechanical action. It’s generally more of a surface phenomenon. So forces that are acting on the abrasion of concrete are usually going to be some sort of object that’s either rolling or sliding over the concrete. And this may also be combined with foreign particles trapped between those two phases that are also gouging and sliding through the concrete.

John: When we talk about the significance of that wear and tear on concrete, we typically think about just the cost of taking the building out of service and replacing the concrete. But there’s also a cost regarding safety. And it’s not just about the people tripping and falling and encountering all other hazards because of it. There’s also an issue of breathing in the concrete dust, the cost associated with keeping the facility and machinery clean, the cost to the equipment, and the reduced productivity due to the worn out concrete.

How exactly do construction professionals usually try to resolve this issue?

Jeff: Dry shake hardeners are quite a common product for this. I’m sure many people reading this now probably use or specify them.

But for anybody who’s not familiar with them, a dry shake hardener is some sort of blend of cement and possibly some other additives and an abrasion-resistant aggregate particle, such as aluminum oxide (also called emery). And these products get broadcast in a dry form overtop fresh concrete and then worked into the surface during the final finish.

Now, certainly, these products can work and can give you a good abrasion-resistant finish if they’re installed well. The challenge that the industry has is they’re very difficult to install.

Dry shake hardeners are applied in two portions, and there’s some work that needs to be done in-between. And one of the significant challenges of this application is that it all takes place in a very time-critical period. All the steps are time-critical, and it can be very easy to miss that perfect window of opportunity.

There are just so many variables that could be happening with the concrete and with the weather. And if workers start to have trouble with it, sometimes they just can’t get a full specified amount of the dry shake applied to the concrete.

John: That’s exactly the challenge that the contractor Graham Construction faced when they were building a new pea protein plant in Manitoba. This is a massive facility with large slab pours, and they were trying to get that shake-on hardener down in that little window of opportunity. And they lost the first slab.

They eventually changed to Hard-Cem to get away from the challenge of that little window of opportunity for properly applying the shake-on.

re there other challenges that come with using dry shake hardeners?

Jeff: Another challenge that we see is that this work normally comes up fairly late in the day when workers have been at it for many hours and they’re just getting fatigued. This is a lot to put on them at the end of the day.

Another challenge that we see is that the dry shakes are very sensitive to bleed water. If there’s too much bleed water coming out when you apply the dry shake and you work that water back in, the surface will become weaker and is likely to delaminate. If you have a low-bleeding concrete, perhaps something with a lot of fly ash, there’s just not enough water there to really work it in properly. The concrete sets up too quickly.

There can also be challenges with wind. And of course, it’s very important not to use dry shakes with air-entrained concrete because the power troweling needed to really work them in properly leaves a high risk of delaminating the concrete surface. So there are many challenges to dry shake products that people might face.

There are also some products that professionals apply post-construction, right? What about those?

John: Yes, I think if you’re in Western Canada, where I live, many of these products use silicate as the base for their formulas.

Jeff: Right. When we’re describing liquid hardeners (which are sometimes called liquid densifiers), these are all some sort of silicate-based product. They work by penetrating into the concrete and reacting with the calcium hydroxide there, which is a by-product of cement hydration. That reaction turns into what is called calcium silicate hydrate gel, which is the normal hydration product of cement. It’s what gives the cement paste its strength and what gives concrete its properties. So this reaction pathway is really quite similar to the reactions you get from fly ash or slag or other supplementary cementitious materials.

That introduces some challenges in and of itself. Some suppliers of these products recommend limiting the amount of fly ash or slag you’re using in your concrete. That’s not always possible or desirable for many other reasons. Or they may recommend delaying the application for at least 28 days to allow the concrete to come up to its specified strength first so that the silicate is not competing with the other cementing materials.

Does their application work effectively?

Jeff: While they are often used or specified specifically to increase the abrasion resistance of the concrete as placed, that’s not really what they’re intended to do.

They function by slightly increasing the amount of cement paste on the surface. But cement paste is the weakest and most vulnerable phase to abrasion. Having a little bit more doesn’t significantly move the dial on the abrasion resistance of that concrete.

Now, liquid hardeners do serve an important purpose. If a contractor does have a slab that has had some challenges when they’re placing it, the surface might be poorly hydrated or weak or might have dried out too early. These products can help strengthen that surface as a remediation measure.

But they’re not really an appropriate material to specify as an abrasion-resistant material for concrete that’s been otherwise properly placed and finished.

re there other solutions that have been used to increase concrete abrasion resistance?

Jeff: Another common solution is high-strength concrete.

And why not just use stronger concrete? You get better abrasion resistance. And normally, this approach would be just using a mix that has more cement. You could use more fly ash or slag or maybe silica fume to really get that strength up and keep that water-cement ratio down real low. The concrete gets stronger, and the abrasion resistance is better. And this generally does work.

But there are some limitations.

Now, the research shows that when you double the compressive strength of concrete, you can roughly double the concrete’s abrasion resistance. And there is research and literature on this.

But there can also be some consequences. Any time you are using a stronger mix, especially with anything that has more cement paste, you’re getting more hydration. That generates more heat in your concrete. More paste means more shrinkage. More shrinkage normally means more cracking. And if you’re pouring a slab, you also now get more curling, so your floors just don’t stay as flat. And curling can result in a lot of damage and wear at the joints.

All of these things are actually really bad. They target some of the core properties that a facility owner expects of their floor. An owner wants more than just good abrasion resistance. They want their floor to perform in many other ways.

And as an added bonus, using high-paste strong mixes comes with a cost premium. Because you are using so much more cement in the concrete, the carbon footprint of that concrete can go up quite significantly.

So most popular concrete abrasion-increasing efforts don’t seem to work as well as expected. Is there a better way to get that abrasion resistance?

John: Adding Hard-Cem into concrete at the batch plant! Hard-Cem lives in that concrete paste, and that’s how it works. It increases the resistance to abrasion and erosion that way. It’s easy to apply. There are no negative effects on your plastic or your hardened concrete. It’s fully compatible and used often with air-entrained concrete, so no longer do you have to specify products like this just for indoor use. You can now use it outdoors. And it can be used in horizontal and vertical slabs, behind formwork, in precast, and in shotcrete. There’s a huge opportunity for this product to be used often in mining applications as well.

And Jeff very clearly articulated the difficulty in applying the shake-on hardeners. So no longer do the jobsites have to take all this into consideration. Basically, they can just order Hard-Cem when they order their concrete. And there’s no harmful dust exposure.

Hard-Cem’s been used for 18 years now for over 7 million m2 (80 million ft2) in all kinds of applications. And many of the top-producing concrete companies have branded their own durability concrete using the Hard-Cem admixture.

Once concrete finishers get to use this, they start to ask for it by name because it just makes their job that much easier.

It sounds like Hard-Cem could be a much more effective solution. But how well does it perform? We’ll look into that in more detail in Part 2 of this interview series.

The post Concrete Abrasion Resistance: The Bad, the Good, and the Better (Interview Part 1) appeared first on Kryton.

Concrete Hardening with Hard-Cem®: Frequently Asked Questions

July 31, 2021July 31, 2021 Dwayne Ferguson Concrete

No matter where you are in the construction industry, you want the structures you work with to last. After all, no one likes to hear that their work failed to live up to expectations. And the expectations for long-lived structures have only grown, increasing as the concern for sustainability and climate change rise. There’s also now more demand for environmentally friendly structures that can resist harsher climates. In short, now more than ever, you’re looking for ways to keep your structures standing for as long as possible and to help them survive the wear and tear of weather and everyday activity.

In your search for the right solution to this, you may have come across our integral hardening admixture, Hard-Cem. Known widely to be a great solution for warehouse durability (and more), it’s been applied to over 7 million m2 (80 million ft2) of concrete across Canada.

But what makes it so popular? And why should you consider it for your future projects? These frequently asked questions and more have been given a great deal of thought in a number of our other articles. But to make sure you get all your answers in one place, we’ve decided to respond to these questions in an easy-to-read guide here.

So, What Is Hard-Cem Exactly?

As we briefly touched on earlier, Hard-Cem is an integral hardening admixture meant to make concrete more durable against abrasion and erosion. In fact, it’s the only one of its kind on the market currently!

Other concrete hardening solutions typically come in the form of dry shakes, liquid hardeners, or other conventional forms. However, they can also come with application concerns.

For one, dry shake products usually have a complicated application process, so there is a higher risk of applying them incorrectly. And because these products often come with toxic silica dust, workers are more likely to get exposed to that material and develop health problems.

Liquid hardeners, on the other hand, while safer and less complicated to use, are just not that effective. They’re designed to reduce dust from weak, improperly finished or fast-drying concrete slabs. They aren’t and shouldn’t be expected to increase concrete hardness to prevent abrasion or erosion.

And both dry shakes and liquid hardeners require time-consuming manual labor, which often requires expensive equipment.

Hard-Cem, however, is free of all these concerns! Because it’s an admixture, it just needs to be added to your concrete mix. And that’s it! It only has one step, so there’s no risk of applying it incorrectly. Hard-Cem also does not expose workers to silica dust, so it helps make jobsites safer. As a result, with Hard-Cem, you get an easier and safer way to create concrete that is harder and better able to resist abrasive and erosive forces.

How Does It Help with Concrete Hardening?

To help with concrete hardening, Hard-Cem is first added into the concrete mix. From there, it disperses throughout the mix, allowing hard particles to get embedded into the cement paste, increasing the hardness of the entire concrete slab. In turn, the cement paste wears more slowly, which reduces material loss that would normally expose the underlying aggregates and make the slab uneven and less functional.

All of which helps double the wear life of the concrete and increase its resistance to abrasion and erosion. And that remains a permanent, life-long feature for the concrete as Hard-Cem becomes a fundamental part of the concrete mix.

Will It Increase Concrete Performance?

Outside of extending your concrete’s wear life and raising your concrete’s resistance to abrasion and erosion, Hard-Cem can also increase your concrete’s chipping resistance. In short, it increases your concrete’s performance in terms of durability against physical wear and tear.

In fact, Hard-Cem is capable of doing this for both regular concrete slabs and concrete joints! However, it’s important to note that if you’re expecting severe wear on your concrete joints to the point that joint-armoring technologies are required, Hard-Cem is not meant to be a replacement for that technology specifically.

How Does Hard-Cem Increase Concrete Durability without Increasing Cement Content?

The fact that Hard-Cem doesn’t increase cement content might seem surprising at first considering it’s common to increase the cement content of your concrete to boost its durability. But keep in mind that Hard-Cem is an additive that strengthens and reinforces cement paste.

A good example for how that works is to think of additives that can be used in tire manufacturing. You’re still using the same amount of rubber, but the tires themselves can be manufactured to be more durable and abrasion-resistant.

Hard-Cem works in a similar way. It’s acting directly in the cement paste to reduce the rate of wear loss. So even though the bulk concrete still has the same or similar compressive strength and properties with Hard-Cem, the addition of Hard-Cem will still help reduce the wear of concrete when it is subject to abrasive and erosive forces. And it does that without the need to add more Portland cement to your concrete mix, allowing you to strengthen it and maintain lower carbon emissions.

How Is It Added to the Concrete?

Hard-Cem is added right into a concrete truck at the batch plant through your local concrete provider. There are no extra steps, and it ensures Hard-Cem is properly added to your mix before you start pouring your concrete. Hard-Cem is available in easy-to-use mixer-ready bags or bulk silo deliveries for larger jobs.

What Projects Can It Be Used For?

It can be used in any project of yours that needs a strong resistance to abrasion and erosion. That typically applies to warehouses. But there are so many more worthwhile applications!

Other projects that often get the most benefit out of Hard-Cem include the following:

Industrial service and repair baysHighway pavements and intersectionsBridge decksRunwaysParking structures, ramps, and apronsSkate parksTunnelsShaftsProcess buildings for mining, oil, and gas industriesUtility and maintenance buildingsLivestock housingStorage shedsTractor garagesDamsSluiceways, spillways, and drainage conduitsStilling basinsCulverts and precast pipesCanalsBlocks and pavers

Is Hard-Cem Compatible with Supplementary Cementitious Materials?

Yes, Hard-Cem has been successfully applied in a number of projects that use supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), such as fly ash, ground-granulated blast-furnace slag, and silica fume.

Is It Compatible with Air-Entrained Concrete?

Also, yes! Hard-Cem is fully compatible with air-entrained concrete. Hard-Cem is not harmful to the air-void system. And air-entrained concrete treated with Hard-Cem remains highly durable to freeze-thaw cycles and salt scaling.

Is There Anything It Isn’t Compatible With?

In general, Hard-Cem is a highly versatile admixture! In addition to being compatible with SCMs and air-entrained concrete, it can be used for a wide variety of concrete placements whether they’re horizontal, vertical, or inclined.

Even its application can be versatile. Hard-Cem works with ready-mix, shotcrete, and precast concrete applications.

And no matter what mix you use, which concrete placement you go with, or how you apply it, Hard-Cem will not negatively impact your concrete’s water demand, workability, set time, strength development, or shrinkage. Instead, you’ll get the same concrete but with better durability.

Does Hard-Cem Change the Concrete’s Finishing Properties?

No, Hard-Cem does not change the finishing characteristics. In fact, finishers report a high level of satisfaction when working with the admixture. Moreover, Hard-Cem can be used with any specified finish.

Do You Have Any Other Resources That Can Teach Me More about Hard-Cem?

If you still have some questions about Hard-Cem or just want to satisfy a more personal curiosity in our novel concrete hardener, we have plenty of digital resources just for you:

Articles“The Top 4 Types of Smart Concrete Technologies to Boost Concrete Construction”“A Study in Durable Design: Creating the Award-Winning Metro Skate Park”“Hard-Cem: It’s Not Just for Warehouse Floors”“Why Hard-Cem Shotcrete Should Be Your Solution for Durable Concrete”“Liquid Hardeners vs Hard-Cem: Which Is Better for Concrete Durability?”“Lower Your Concrete Carbon Footprint with These 4 Innovative Methods”“Silica Dust: The Dangers and How You Can Mitigate Them”“Convert Your Concrete Slab from a Maintenance Liability to an Asset”

Case StudiesVancouver Convention CentreBear Creek HydroBrandt Tractor Ltd. warehouseAn Abbotsford residential workshopAshbridges Bay Skate Park

Educational ContentWebinar on integral concrete hardening for wear-resistant concreteHanley Wood University’s course on our integral hardening admixture for wear-resistant concreteConstruction Canada’s demo-cast recording on Hard-Cem

If I’ve Already Decided to Add Hard-Cem to My Project, Where Would I Get It?

We offer Hard-Cem through concrete providers around the world. So if you’d like to add Hard-Cem to your project, get in touch with your local provider. You can also check out our website for a list of contacts who could help you with your Hard-Cem needs.

The post Concrete Hardening with Hard-Cem®: Frequently Asked Questions appeared first on Kryton.

Can You Pour Concrete in Hot Weather?

July 29, 2021February 19, 2022 Dwayne Ferguson Concrete

In Louisiana, it’s been exceptionally hot these past few days.

With a heat index of 109° F, concrete contractors in particular have had to take special precautions when pouring concrete outdoors.

There are many complications that come with pouring concrete in extreme heat, aside from health concerns.

Let’s take a look.

The risks of pouring concrete when it’s too hot outside

Fortunately (for the concrete only), in Louisiana, we don’t experience many low-humidity or windy days. These factors can complicate the pour and require special adjustments to be made.

The following issues can arise when pouring in extreme heat:

Decreased durability and strengthHigher risk of thermal crackingHigher risk of drying shrinkageCold joint formationsHigher risk of slumpingHigher risk of finishing problems

Is it possible to pour concrete in extreme heat?

When you hire the professionals at Port Aggregates, you can trust that our contractors know what they’re doing and are experienced in executing successful pours in a wide range of conditions.

In short, yes, it is possible to pour in extreme heat by taking the proper precautions:

Plan in advance. The mixed concrete will need to be poured more quickly than usual, so we always check our routes ahead of time to make sure there won’t be any delivery delays.Expand the size of the crew. The more hands on deck, the faster the job will be completed.Counteract the effects of the heat on the concrete during all stages of the pour. This may include blocking the sun with portable shade or tenting an area.

There’s a lot to consider when pouring concrete in extreme heat. To ensure that the job is done properly and all of the appropriate safety measures have been taken, contact Port Aggregates. There’s a reason we’ve been a trusted industry leader for over forty years! Request a quote today for help with your residential or commercial concrete project this summer.

The post Can You Pour Concrete in Hot Weather? appeared first on Port Aggregates.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.concreteideas.co/?p=1184

Building Artificial Reefs: What to Expect

July 19, 2021July 19, 2021 Dwayne Ferguson Landscaping Improvement

Lately, there’s been an increase in interest over the well-being of coral reefs. These marine habitats represent an estimated $2.7 trillion in ecosystem service value and support around 25% of all marine life after all. But we have already lost 50% of the world’s reefs at this point. And there appears to have been no specific global funding to help develop the protection and restoration of these reefs in the past.

Recognizing this, a coalition of partners from the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly created the Global Fund for Coral Reefs. With this fund, they hope to raise and invest $500 million (USD) to support programs that will increase the resilience of coral reefs.

That means you may soon see more construction requests for artificial reefs. These sorts of reefs are manufactured constructs designed to promote the growth of coral reefs and provide marine life with shelter. It’s a great way to secure a profitable tender and give back to the environment all at the same time.

But if you do decide to take on an artificial reef project, what can you expect?

You May See a Wide Variety of Structural Requests

Over the years, the innovation for building artificial reefs has only increased. People from all over the world have their own ideas on how to build reefs effectively. So when you do encounter such a project, you might find some unique structural requests. Here are just some of the more well-known ones you might end up with.

They May Be Complex Like a Habitat Skirt

If you win a bid for an artificial reef construction project from a governmental authority, your work may be fairly large and complex.

For instance, back in 2008, the Vancouver Convention Centre used governmental funds to include a habitat skirt worth $8.3 million. The first of its kind at the time, this project used 362 precast concrete slats. They were fit into 76 frames and arranged to look like a large five-tiered staircase. That extended the center’s shoreline by 477 m (1,564.96 ft) and added 6,122 m2 (65,896.66 ft2) of marine habitat surface area.

That is no easy feat for a project that had never been done before! As one of the University of British Columbia’s blogs notes, this amount of space is equivalent to “the length of five Canadian football fields and the floor space of the entire White House.”

It’s also not the only government project thinking big. Further south, down in the United States of America (USA), in San Diego, the port there has started to install a sea wall. Designed to protect the edges of Harbor Island, the wall is expected to help restore the island’s marine ecosystem.

It makes use of a structure that consists of the Coastalock system, which interlocks hollow concrete units to create habitats for oysters, sea stars, algae, and a variety of other marine wildlife.

The port hopes to use 72 of the 3.5-tonne modules of this system to replace the island’s current riprap.

With those two projects in mind, you can see that certain artificial reef projects will involve a decent amount of construction material, some intricate design input, and a keen contractor eye to keep everything working smoothly.

Or They May Be a Smaller Affair Using Reef Balls or Cubes

Not every artificial reef project is so extensive of course. There are plenty around the world that go to organizations like the Reef Ball Foundation and ARC Marine to install concrete structures in waters. These structures may be circular or more cube-like in shape, and they can range in size. Some may be as small as 0.3 m (1 ft) or so or as big as 1.5 m (5 ft) or more. In either case, the structures come with holes and various surface textures to offer marine wildlife places to rest and hide from predators that still look and feel like natural reefs.

They aren’t always interlocked and don’t need any additional design work. So it’s easier for people to order these structures from the organizations making them or from contractors for these organizations and have either group deploy the structures into the water.

It also makes it a less complex project on your end if you win a contracting tender for an organization that already handles this sort of work.

It May Even Involve Just Deploying Materials in a Specific Part of a Marine Area

Sometimes building artificial reefs is all about the materials and nothing else. In some cases, that might mean placing materials like defunct ships, oil rigs, or some other old, large structure into open waters.

In other cases, it might mean doing the same but with defunct subway cars! Running with that last idea, the State of Delaware in the USA has been pushing old New York City Redbird subway train cars into the open waters off the coast of Slaughter Beach since 1996. However, to make sure these cars are marine-friendly, they strip them of any glass, seats, signs, wheels, and petroleum products before dumping them. That way, water can flow in and out of the old vehicles, allowing larvae from sea invertebrates to safely drift in and gain shelter, which in turn, lets them flourish and feed other marine animals.

An even simpler version of this project that you might encounter could be a request to place concrete pipes or steel beams on the ocean floor. For instance, further south from Delaware, in Pinellas County, Florida, such projects have helped to create around 42 reefs.

These Requests Can’t Just Be Fulfilled with Any Material, However

While some projects will already have a specific material in mind like those using the reef balls or reef cubes, there will be others with more leeway. And when that happens, you’ll need to carefully consider what material you use.

Think of it as building a home of sorts. You wouldn’t just use or reuse any old material for a person’s home. It could end up being structurally unsound or even toxic for the person who chooses to live there.

The same can be said for building artificial reefs. If you choose to build reefs by reusing waste like old tires or polyvinyl chloride, you’ll soon discover that neither material is the right kind for marine wildlife to call home. They’re usually too small, for one. So organisms needed to create reefs can’t grow on them. And they’re also very unstable. The waves can carry them to any part of the ocean floor easily, which is not appealing to marine wildlife as reefs are meant to be naturally anchored to the seabed. What’s worse though is that they can both release toxic chemicals, transforming their potential to be homes into a danger zone for any aquatic creature nearby.

So, what can you use instead?

Concrete Is Often the Preferred Material for Building Artificial Reefs

You might have guessed it already considering how often previous projects have used it already. But concrete really is one of the more preferred materials for building artificial reefs. And there are a number of reasons why that’s the case.

According to the New Heaven Reef Conservation Program, some of those reasons have everything to do with the composition and versatility of concrete.

Much like reefs, the composition of concrete makes use of the chemical compound calcium carbonate. Reefs get it naturally through coralline red algae, which form a calcareous skeleton that supports coral reefs by cementing them together. Meanwhile, concrete often gets the compound through common building materials like limestone. But regardless of how they get the compound, that makes concrete at least seem more natural to marine wildlife.

That’s not all that gives its composition such an appeal. Concrete is also innately strong and heavy enough to remain anchored at the bottom of any waters it’s placed in and lasts for a long time, giving marine wildlife a secure shelter for protection or habitation.

But what about concrete versatility?

Well, because concrete can be constructed into almost any shape and size, it gives you an opportunity to give an artificial reef any number of nooks and crannies that fishes and other aquatic wildlife like to hide in.

However, There Are a Few Other Materials You Could Work With

With that said, concrete isn’t the only material that people have gone for when building artificial reefs. They have also gone with the following materials using unique methods:

Electrified steelUsing biorock technology, ecologists in Indonesia have been able to form artificial reefs with electrically charged steel structures. Using a low-voltage current to charge the steel, the ecologists create an interaction between the electricity and the minerals in the seawater. That reaction causes limestone to grow on the charged steel. That growth eventually solidifies, forming reefs much quicker than they naturally would otherwise. This method has also shown to heal injured coral up to 20 times faster than other methods.

Steel spiders Even without electricity, steel remains a good material for building artificial reefs. For instance, people off the coast of an Indonesian island have been attaching parts of coral reefs to rust-protected reinforcing steel structures known as steel spiders. Over time, this process increased the amount of coral on the steel spiders by over 60%. At least 42 different coral species were growing on the steel spiders because of this. And in the rubble surrounding the steel spiders, people found at least 58 species.

Glass bottles in concrete While this method still uses concrete, the main focus is the glass bottles embedded in the concrete. As the concrete keeps the glass bottles anchored securely, the bottles themselves act as a way to transplant broken or nursery corals to attract marine life to the area and eventually create a reef and feeding hub for fish.

If You Do Go with Concrete, Consider Increasing Its Durability

Con-Fume One major artificial reef organization in the USA, the Reef Ball Foundation, requires silica fume in the specs for their artificial reefs. So if you want to follow their design as a blueprint for your own artificial reef, you may want to apply our Con-Fume solution. It is a silica fume product made from pozzolanic material to produce high-performance concrete. It comes in ready-mix bags and meets ASTM and CSA standards for silica fume.

Hard-Cem If you happen to be placing your artificial reef project in waters with swift currents, you may want to add Hard-Cem to your concrete mix. With fast-flowing water, there’s a higher chance for debris to bump up against your reef structure, gradually eroding away its surface and even potentially causing cracks. That surface will likely weaken after some time, leaving it vulnerable to losing aggregate and cement binders to the fast-moving water. But with Hard-Cem, this possibility becomes less likely. As an integral hardener, Hard-Cem increases the abrasion and erosion resistance of concrete and doubles concrete wear life even under harsh conditions. So it is capable of giving your artificial reef the durability it needs to withstand the abrasive and erosive forces in the water.

Krystol Internal Membrane

(KIM Another issue that can threaten your artificial reef’s longevity is a sulfate attack. Sometimes caused by industrial water pollution or seawater, a sulfate attack can chemically change the reef’s cement, weakening its bond with the surrounding aggregate. That can then cause extensive cracking and wear, ruining the structural integrity of your reef. Luckily, KIM can safeguard your reef from such a situation. Using Krystol technology, it enables your concrete to react chemically to water, forming needle-shaped crystals that fill up its capillaries and micro-cracks. That ensures the sulfate in the water cannot get through your concrete and damage its structure. KIM was also one of the top-performing products at preventing the corrosion of steel reinforcement during a 10-year study in a marine environment by the University of Hawaii. Moreover, KIM is also NSF-certified as safe for potable water and has the Singapore Green Label, proving that it is non-toxic.

You’ll Soon Have an Artificial Reef Perfect for Clients and Marine Life

Knowing what to expect and what tools to consider now, you’ll be ready to create a marine-friendly artificial reef of your own in the future. Just keep in mind the potential scope, materials, and obstacles you might encounter, and you’ll have an artificial reef up in no time.

The post Building Artificial Reefs: What to Expect appeared first on Kryton.