This weekend I dug foundations and mixed concrete. I never knew that concrete was such a complex substance with so many finicky qualities.
Did you know:
1) That concrete can take up to seven years to set completely?
2) That concrete dries properly when it is kept wet?
3) That if it sets too quickly it will crack?
Neither did I.
PATTOTE: Better living through knowing the chemical make-up of cement shoes.
5 comments:
To be honest, that news isn't entirely new, though I had pretty much forgotten it. It was many many years ago that my Dad bought a business making concrete garden walls!
Actually, concrete doesn't dry at all - it cures in a chemical process. Some of the water is trapped by chemical bonding. When concrete is exposed to high heat (such as building fires), the bonded water is released, massively reducing the tensile strength. After a fire, you can push your finger through exposed concrete blocks.
Who is the masked pedant?
/shrugs
I vote we dissalow any one with a name that sounds like some sort of sex toy to comment on this blog unless they first apply for a pseudonym
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