Concrete

The Basics of Concrete

When looking to patch up a chip, crack, or pothole in a driveway, basement floor, or patio, plenty of options are available. If you go shopping in a home improvement store, you’ll see multiple kinds of concrete, crack fillers, and cement, each designed to handle a different job. Picking the right one can be intimidating if you’ve never dealt with concrete. To help, we’ve compiled this quick list of commonly available concrete.

Quick-setting concrete mix: This is a fast-setting concrete used for many different at-home projects. It’s easy to use, cheap, and dries quickly (20 to 40 minutes). This type of concrete is used to set fence posts, mailboxes, and lamp posts or to create small concrete slabs.

All-purpose cement: This is the most basic and versatile concrete you can buy. You can use it to do everything from repairing cracks and potholes to building stone structures like stairs, floors, and slabs. While this concrete takes longer to set up and dry than a quick-setting mix, it’s typically stronger and longer lasting.

High-strength concrete mix: This is the strongest type sold in stores. This concrete has a much stronger PSI (pressure per square inch) rating than other mixes and is used for foundations, bases for heavy machinery, driveways, and supports.

Mortar mix: While not a true concrete, many consider it as one. Mortar mix is a combination of concrete and sand that creates an adhesive bond when mixed with water. You should only use this type of mix to hold bricks together.

While these are the most common types of concrete available in stores, there are many more subcategories and specifics regarding their application. If you’re interested in reading more about the fine details of concrete, check out our articles below.