Ocala, FL – The Del Zotto Family, a renowned leader in the concrete form industry, is excited to announce the launch of Del Zotto Concrete, a new ready mix concrete delivery service for the Ocala area. The company’s new website, delzottoreadymix.com, offers customers a fast and easy scheduling process, weather forecasting, and the ability to […]
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How to Master the Art of the Finishing Trowel
A finishing trowel is an important tool for many types of construction. It’s used to smooth out materials like mortar, plaster, and concrete. It has a very straight, angled blade designed to fit precisely into right angles and smooth out the surface of the mixture in straight lines. Choose the Right Trowel This tool isn’t […]
How to Pour Concrete Kitchen Counters the Right Way
Concrete kitchen counters are a great choice in residential or commercial kitchens. They’re very durable and affordable compared to some other materials, and the versatility of concrete provides many options in styles and shapes. Creating concrete kitchen counters isn’t difficult. Prepare to Pour Concrete Kitchen Counters Are you ready to get to work. To prepare […]
Self-Build Concrete Construction Blocks Cut Work Time in Half
Tabulating the cost to build a concrete structure must include labor, which is the most variable and expensive part of the total project expense. While cost for materials remains mostly fixed, labor costs generally add 125 percent to 150 percent to the total project bill. Building in economically suppressed areas can pose some serious challenges […]
The Benefits of Concrete Fencing
You want to build a fence to keep the dogs, the kids, the intruders or even the door-to-door sales people out. Or in, depending on whom they belong to. Fences provide security, privacy and safety. But what type of fencing do you want: wood, steel, coated aluminum, wrought iron, bamboo, vinyl, chain link, prefab concrete […]
8 Fun DIY Concrete Projects
You might only associate concrete with construction workers and early 20th century Chicago mobsters. But concrete, the stuff of human civilization and architecture, also has many decorative and home-improvement uses. Although mixing and allowing concrete to cure properly requires precision and careful planning, homeowners can find many wonderful uses for the material. Here are eight […]
How Do You Build a Skate Park?
What makes skateboarding so fun and so thrilling – besides the death-defying twists and turns, the hops, the skips and the jumps? Well, that’s about it, the hops, the skips and the jumps, except maybe the building of the concrete skate ramp. So how do you build a skate park? Here are 10 steps. Build […]
How Long Will It Take For The Concrete In The Hoover Dam To Cure?
Only an anthropologist would imagine a world without humans. Only an anthropological engineer would imagine what monuments of human civilization would survive the longest for other intelligent life to examine. And only an architect would say it’s probably the Hoover Dam, the massive concrete structure built on the Colorado River in the early 1930s. What […]
Steps to Building A Concrete Skate Ramp
The rain may come. Wood may bend or rot. But a concrete skate ramp will always lead to the best kickflips, flip tricks, heelflips, ollies, fakies, goofyfoots and tailslides. For the unenlightened, those are skateboard moves, and while wood ramps may make cool rolling noises, concrete provides unbeatable stability and precision. And they last forever. Taking […]
Theme Park Concrete and Construction
The best way to experience a theme park just might be in the fast forward mode. Literally billions of people worldwide pack their bags at least occasionally to spend time at a theme park. That’s a lot of feet pounding theme park concrete. Breaking the numbers down by world regions, more than 368 million people […]
Study: Cement May Actually Be Good For Environment
Modern buildings rely heavily on cement production, but the industry has long been considered one of the primary sources of carbon dioxide, one of the most prevalent greenhouse gases behind climate change. While concrete poses other risks, such as spreading cement dust, reflecting heat back into the atmosphere or causing surface runoff that erodes topsoil, […]
Cement Gets Smart
Cement may not seem like a high-tech subject, but it hasn’t been overlooked by modern technology. Scientists are now discussing the potential of programmable cement in creating stronger, more economical building projects. Not only will this reduce the manufacturing of cement and its stress on the environment, but construction may someday have bendable, self-healing concrete. New Research […]
Tennis On A Concrete Court, Anyone?
The type of tennis court surface that’s used can have a major impact on how tennis is played. There are essentially three types of courts: grass, clay and a hard court, which is generally re-surfaced concrete. Concrete tends to be more expensive, but one of the advantages of a concrete tennis court is that concrete is such […]
When Were Cement Pouring Buckets First Used?
Concrete has been in use as a construction material since the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans. But one of the challenges has always been getting the wet mix to the right spot. Cement pouring buckets were in use early on but were very limited in that they had to be transported manually. While the […]
Getting the Job Done With a Concrete Form Vibrator
When concrete is poured, it can have thousands of tiny air bubbles. There can be enough of these to significantly weaken the concrete. The standard solution is to use concrete vibrators. These vigorously shake the concrete to eliminate any air bubbles by forcing them to the surface where the air can escape. In many cases, […]
Weathering the Storm With Cost Effective Resilient Concrete
According to the dictionary, “resilient” means the ability or capacity for bounding back from adversity. In construction, this refers to the ability of structures to resist and recover from the ravages of storms, especially along the Southeastern U.S. where hurricanes have historically done terrible damage. Concrete is a vital part of all construction and more resilient […]
10 Safety Tips For Handling Cement
Concrete in one form or another has been used in building projects since the days of the Great Pyramid, and for good reason. It’s economical, durable and very versatile. While injuries in the concrete industry are rare, haste and poor planning can jeopardize health. Here are some of the cement safety measures concrete workers should consider. 1. […]
Decorative Concrete Is Back From the Dead
Decorating concrete is definitely coming back as a style choice. Part of the reason for this is the advent of 3D printing. Design and construction companies around the world are taking advantage of this technology to create scaled models that can show purchasers a better perspective of what these decorative solutions will look like in […]
What Is Different About Portland Cement?
Portland is the name used by Joseph Aspdin, a bricklayer in the English city of Leeds who patented his own highly successful cement blend back in 1824. Portland cement was harder and stronger than previous mixes. Though his original version has changed over the years, the name remains. Modern Cements Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) is manufactured by […]
Concrete Silos vs Steel Silos
A cement silo is the on-site storage container that allows for the storage and distribution of different cement mixes. Cement silos can come in a range of sizes to fit the needs of construction sites. A silo could be a permanent structure holding hundreds of tons of cement or a portable model to be relocated to different […]