Concrete is composed of cement, aggregate (including crushed rock and sand) and water. In homes, it's frequently seen in the foundation, driveway, sidewalk, patio, and stone walls. Note that bricks use mortar in the joints, not concrete.
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Removing blacktop/asphalt pad
I have what used to be a basketball court in my backyard. Its roughly 20x20 feet. I've already removed and sold the basketball hoop. On the end where the hoop was theres concrete piling sunk below the ...
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How could I flatten these warped sleepers layed on uneven concrete to an acceptable level?
The concrete in my basement is, as most concrete is, very uneven. I was building up my subfloor to match an existing floor, so I got about 200 board feet of PT 4x4 and ripped 1/2" off using a table ...
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371 views
How to repair cracks in concrete overhang over entrance
I have a slab of concrete over the front entrance of my house with some serious cracks in it. I don't actually know what the proper name for it is, which makes this difficult to Google - so I've ...
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571 views
How can I remove water-based emulsion paint from paving slabs?
On painting the bedrooms in our new house, we've gotten some (mainly) water-based paint on some of the paving slabs on the patio. A little of it may be oil-based gloss we used for skirting boards, but ...
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303 views
What type of concrete sealer to use to prevent frost heaves in my driveway?
I am about to put concrete sealer on a driveway and inside a garage. What sealer should I apply, if I am specifically interested in preventing water from getting in cracks and causing frost heaves ...
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Is it possible to paint concrete pavers
I have a large paved area that I would like to replace with lawn. My plan is to use some of the pavers as a border.
They're plain concrete pavers (450x450mm) that look like this except about 20 years ...
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What tools and techniques are required for moving & re-sloping a cement slab walkway?
My next "shape up" project for my house is moving and re-sloping the concrete slab walkway that goes around my house.
I am wondering what tools would be handy for this job.
I'll need to get a pry ...
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1k views
How do I reduce height of the curb on my driveway?
I have a concrete driveway (normal 2 car poured driveway) which is cut vertically (90 degrees) about 2.5 inches above the street.
My father-in-law lives with us and has a powered wheelchair. The ...
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616 views
How should I install a hoist given that the walls and ceiling are made of concrete?
I have this hoist, of the engine-lifting variety, which is designed to be installed below a pipe or beam. I do not have any load bearing pipes or beams. What I have are a poured concrete ceiling (9" ...
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105 views
How do I determine the correct rise of a step for a concrete footing on a slope?
Going to be building a retaining wall in the front yard on a slope. I'm going to be using King size residential bricks to make a 2 wythe wall. Because of the slope I'll need to have 3-4 steps in the ...
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99 views
How can I remove ridges from a concrete shower pan?
I recently laid a new concrete shower pan, and went around the drain radially, which created some circular ridges.
I'd like to make the pan as smooth as possible, but these ridges are currently 1/8" ...
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How can I level concrete pavement for an above-ground pool?
I want to set up an above-ground pool (14' round) on my back yard. There is a relatively good place for it, where there are concrete slabs, however, there are two problems:
The slabs are not level. ...
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150 views
Heat causing concrete to heave
I mostly hear about this happening for roads on very hot days, but I'm wondering what about the heat causes the concrete to heave? Is there any concerns for foundations/garage floors/drive way heaving ...
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332 views
leveling concrete floor
I have to level a concrete floor that is more than 2 inches out of level. Should I be using self leveler, or concrete? Is 2" too much for self leveler?
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Can I lay pavers over a concrete patio?
I have a concrete patio in my backyard that's in pretty good condition. We don't like how it looks, so we'd like to cover it up with brick or pavers. Looking online, it appears that most people ...
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How can I find places to nail/screw into walls of ICF (insulated concrete form) home?
The home I bought has exterior walls made of ICF (insulated concrete form). I don't know the brand or type, I just know that somehow the builders attached the drywall to the styrofoam/concrete.
I'm ...
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How can I get windshield wiper fluid stains out of my garage floor?
My car's windshield wiper fluid reservoir had a leak and quite a bit of it soaked into my garage floor (which is a light concrete). It happened over night, so it soaked quite a bit. Now the floor is ...
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339 views
How to make 3“ concrete ”legs" via reusable casting structure?
I have a design for a (set of) planter(s) I'm trying to make, and to make the design I have in mind, I need an 18" long 3" OD leg with a bit of rebar in them. (let's say 100 of these bad boys in ...
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Should I seal, waterproof a concrete basement floor before painting?
What is the best sealer/waterproofer to put on a basement floor that I just want to paint. New construction, no water problems, but washer & drier & water heater are in basement and add to ...
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675 views
How do I install drywall when the door is too close to a concrete wall?
I'm looking for suggestions to finish one of the walls in my basement. I've included the pictures of the wall below. As you can see the doors are right up against the wall on both sides. There's ...
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How can I install T molding on concrete subflooring?
I'm at the point where I want to install some T molding for the transition from our main room to the bedrooms. I just took a look at the directions and they only show screwing the track into the ...
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Can I install hardwood floors (not floating) on a concrete floor?
We have recently bought an old house, and the ground floor has a hard floor and is currently covered in tongue and groove laminate - which we hate.
We'd like to put reclaimed floorboards down - is ...
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Should I use solid concrete or cement block for an egress window well?
I am having some contractors build a window well for an egress window at my house. I have the option of doing solid concrete walls for the window well, or cement blocks (which he said he will fill ...
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334 views
How do I fix an uneven cement floor prior to hard wood flooring install?
I have recently ripped up carpet and padding on a cement floor for a sixth floor condo unit. I plan on installing 3/4" Bella, 3' wide flooring on it. The problem is that there is a ridge, about 1/8", ...
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283 views
What is involved in enlarging a concrete garage door opening?
I have a concrete garage with an opening measuring 99" wide by 85" high. There is 10" of concrete from the door opening to the left and right walls and about 1' above. All walls are 8" thick and ...
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Does RedGard count as a rubber sealer in a shower?
In standard poured shower pan construction there is normally a rubber layer between the bottom flat layer, and the upper sloped layer.
Today I came across the following "updated" method:
(credit: ...
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240 views
How long does radiant heat in a concrete floor last?
I am looking to purchase a home built in 1950 that has radiant heat with copper pipes inside the concrete slab foundation. The home has been vacant for a little while now too, not sure if that ...
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263 views
What is this burnt cement floor treatment called?
In Brazil we have a floor finish named Burnt Cement (that doesn't involve burning). Here is a description of the process
In summary, you use a mix of cement and pigment (sometimes marble powder too) ...
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281 views
Would building a partial raised wall for a pond in this way be strong enough?
I just read your answers about "Building a raised wall for a pond." Although quite detailed, I am not very physics minded and hope someone will give me a thumbs up or down.
I have a pond that is ...
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What should I do about a horizontal crack around my porch slab?
This crack runs all the way around my porch slab but doesn't go into the foundation where the basement starts. The ranch house was built in 1956. The porch was framed in and our office is in there ...
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Small Concrete Paver patio under BBQ
I have a BBQ that's currently sitting on a not so level grassy area. I'd like to create a very small base for the grill with two 2ft by 2ft concrete pavers so I have a level base, but I don't know how ...
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How can I hang a framed picture onto a wallpapered concrete wall without damaging the wall surface?
I have a framed picture about two feet by three feet in size that weighs about one pound (not a sheet of paper). I want to hang it onto a wall that is of full-blown hard concrete and covered with ...
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Extending concrete Slab
I have a 10 x 10 slab (4 inches thick) that is already in my back yard in the corner. I bought a kit to build a 10 x 10 shed on it, and then realized that would put it right up to my fence. So my ...
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Should a concrete slab slope toward my house?
I am adding a room to my home, the contractor poured a concrete slab for the addition and it slopes toward the existing house and it is now raining and water is coming under my floors. Is the slope of ...
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How many bags of concrete do I need?
I would like to make a small concrete slab of the following dimensions.
Length: 1.2m
Width: 0.86m
Depth: 0.09m
The cubic volume as i understand it is all those numbers multiplied.
result: 0.0929m2
...
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How to Insulate a concrete slab foundation in an older house?
What are some ways to insulate a concrete slab type foundation in an older home built in the 50's? The slab as far as I can tell is not insulated at all and results in a very cold floor and living ...
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How powerful of a hammer drill do I need to make holes in a concrete ceiling?
I want to mount a cornice for curtains on a concrete ceiling. So I believe I need some kind of hammer drill. I would like to know, how powerful should it be for this kind of work?
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Installing subfloor and hardwood on top of concrete (2nd story)
I bought a condo in a triplex where I basically have all of the 2nd floor. Most rooms are on hardwood, while the rest is on laminate with a serious height difference of an inch and a half (hardwood ...
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Can salt be used to create a slip resistance surface in concrete?
Is it true that salt can be used to put a slip resistant surface in fresh concrete?
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Should a post in a circular concrete form go through the bottom?
I am replacing a fence post that was in a circular 2-ft form. The old one had rotted where the concrete and post meet at the top - the next one will have the concrete above water level!
But - I ...
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340 views
Repair Hole in Concrete Foundation
The previous owner of my house had a sprinkler system installed and had it run off the main water supply in the house instead of a separate meter. I had a new meter installed, so I do not have to pay ...
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How can I repair the cool deck around the pool?
In places around the pool the cool deck has flaked off and I can see the bare concrete. The previous owner tried to patch it in places but it looks horrible because the texture AND color don't match.
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How can I replace laminate with polished concrete flooring?
I'd like to investigate whether I can replace my first-level flooring - currently faux-wood laminate - with polished concrete. What do I need to know?
Is it even practical to put down polished ...
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how to cut concrete beams/sleepers
I have long (60cm/23") concrete beams that I want to cut to size to build a small garden wall.
They are 15cm/6" high. I know there exist heavy cutter tooling to cut through (concrete) tiles, but it ...
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How do I alter the shape of my existing concrete steps?
I have some concrete steps from my back door that I plan to cover with paver brick, so that they tie in aesthetically with my new paver patio. The existing steps are rectangular, but I want them to be ...
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Concrete slab at a brick wall
I want to build a concrete slab (upon which a deck will be build later) at the foot of a brick wall (by foot I don't mean the foundation foot, I just mean where the brick meets the grade level). I ...
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Can I rescue leaning concrete forms?
I'm adding to my deck. I marked off 6 holes, and dug them about 30" deep. Then I set tubes in, letting them extend about 8" above ground. I put a couple inches of rock in the bottom. I made sure the ...
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How should I prepare an all-concrete warehouse space before building out?
I haven't put together my complete buildout plan yet, but I expect that most of the preparatory steps are the same regardless of where I'm going with it. The space is approx 100'x100'x16', and ...
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How can I improve the cold floor in my ground-floor unit?
My home is a ground-floor unit in a condominium. The floor is really quite cold and I'd like to do something about that. I saw in another question the suggestion to use Platon. Would I be able to put ...
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Removing stains from concrete
How can I remove stains from concrete (garage/driveway)? The stains are most likely either oil, gasoline, or transmission fluid.
