Concrete Equipment

Concrete is one of our oldest and yet still most widely used building materials. The Egyptians used gypsum and lime mortars when they were building the pyramids. Concrete was used by the Chinese way back when they were building the Great Wall. Today, twice as much concrete is used in construction around the world than the total of all other building materials including wood, steel, plastic and aluminum, according to the Cement Association of Canada.

Concrete or Cement?

Most of us use the terms interchangeably, but cement is a product made by combining limestone, clay and san in a rotating furnace. The heat causes chemical composition changes to the ingredients, and the final product is "Portland Cement." Portland cement is an ingredient in making concrete.

Concrete's attributes make it adaptable and useful:

It is very inexpensive. It's simply a mixture made up of cement, sand, gravel and water so it doesn't cost much to produce.

By varying the proportions it's ingredients, you can make concrete thicker or thinner to suit an application. But, concrete is always going to be pourable, so it is very adaptable and its viscosity allows it to be used many hard to reach locations.

And we all know cured concrete is also very strong.

Concrete Equipment

The basic equipment needed to work with concrete has not changed much for thousands of years. You still need to have a concept or design of what you want to build, some forms or molds to hold the concrete in place, tools to spread it and smooth it, and a strong back to actually do the job.

For the average homeowner, the equipment necessary to work with concrete is readily available either in their garage or at the local home store. You can build projects with equipment as simple as:

Concrete mix itself, (which may already contain the cement, sand and gravel and just need water or cement which the homeowner needs to mix with the sand water and gravel).

A garden hose

Boards for building the concrete forms and to be used smooth the surface.

Some pails, perhaps a wheelbarrow, a level and a brush or broom to finish the surface.

Construction Equipment

When you stop and think about it, the equipment that construction companies use to work with concrete is essentially bigger, stronger versions of the basic equipment. For example, augers can replace shovels for digging footings, steel forms can be used instead of wooden forms, pressurized delivery systems can replace buckets and wheelbarrows and powered floats can be used instead of long boards to level concrete surfaces.

However, since the basic building material hasn't changed much, the functions of the equipment used to work it haven't had to change either. What has changed is the scale on which the equipment operates.