FAQs – Concrete vs Cement

Everyday on the commute to work you’ll most certainly pass a truck with a large cylinder like drum that is constantly rotating. Just about everyone will automatically call that vehicle a cement truck, and have understand that it is rotating in order to keep it from becoming a harden solid. Well if you refer to that as a cement truck, you would be only partially correct. Cement is only an additive added to a mixture of composite materials including; water, crushed stone, rock, and sand. The crushed stone, rock, and sand is referred to as aggregate. Cement itself is just limestone, silicon, iron, and aluminum, among other minerals that is heated up to a very high temperature to form clinkers. The clinkers look like big marbles, they are then grinded down into a very fine grey powder and gypsum is added. There are also plenty types of cement to chose from but the most commonly used is Portland cement, developed in the 1700’s, it is a hydraulic cement that starts to harden regardless of how much water is or isn’t added. Which is very important as it allows the concrete mixture to harden under water or in rainy conditions. The result of cement, water, gypsum, and aggregate creates concrete and the amount of time is takes to set depends on how much gypsum is added.  Your Houston Concrete Paving Company can also adjust how fast or slow it will set by using calcium chloride to speed it up or sugar to slow it down.  Although Portland cement makes working with concrete portions easier, it still needs proper water to cement ratios to create a strong mix. If not done correctly it can cause the concrete to become weak or crack, then you’ll need a Houston Paving repair company to come out and fix what could have been avoided. Even though cement is the glue that holds everything together picking a good aggregate mix is important also, as it makes up more than 70% of the total mix. When all is said and done, concrete is the most used construction material used in the world and can even be recycled since it is mainly composed of rocks.