{"id":21791,"date":"2023-01-10T14:16:54","date_gmt":"2023-01-10T19:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=21791"},"modified":"2023-01-10T14:40:31","modified_gmt":"2023-01-10T19:40:31","slug":"guest-contributor-jason-m-10jan2023-ancient-roman-concrete-continued","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/guest-contributor-jason-m-10jan2023-ancient-roman-concrete-continued\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Contributor – Jason M – 10JAN2023 – Ancient Roman Concrete – Continued"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ancient Roman Concrete\u2019s Durability Finally Explained<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I actually work for a cement and concrete manufacturer. I was thinking more along the lines of roads and large buildings in my comments above.<\/p>\n

For individuals, I completely agree with you that stronger foundations and floors in homes would be a good thing. The problems of energy to generate heat and cost of transporting the materials are still there. But because it is on a much smaller scale it MIGHT be easier to overcome.<\/p>\n

Availability of quick lime might be an issue, as well. At least in some locations.<\/p>\n

For pouring a driveway or a garage floor though\u2026I\u2019m still not sold on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cStrength\u201d for concrete is a measure of compressive force. It\u2019s measured in PSI. Unfortunately, even a very high PSI concrete can break if its support is somehow undermined. The biggest thing for homeowners is making sure that the foundation is done properly with the correct support around the concrete and diverting water away so that it is not washing or damaging the support in some way.<\/p>\n

That being said, there are several methods to avoid the kind of cracks you\u2019re talking about. For anyone reading this\u2026 make sure your builders include rebar in your foundations. This goes for driveways, too, although it doesn\u2019t have to be rebar in this case\u2026 a simple wire mesh or wire fence laid in the concrete (especially if you\u2019re DYIing it) is probably enough. There is also a fiber that can be added to decrease the likelihood of cracks in driveways, etc. but that\u2019s more for if you\u2019re paying someone to do it. I don\u2019t know that you can buy that kind of concrete unless you\u2019re dealing directly with a seller with the mixer trucks and stuff.<\/p>\n

You can also increase the thickness of the concrete. This adds significant cost, but a 9 inch thick driveway would be better than a 6 inch thick driveway. There is a diminishing return here though. Once you get to a certain point, the additional cost is not worth the additional \u201cprotection.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a foundation, especially, make sure they dig deeply enough to get good ground underneath the concrete. This is one thing I had to be careful of when we built our home. We have horrible dirt. I know it sounds funny, but the kind of dirt we have in this area is really bad for settling. It simply compresses too easily so the weight of a house is going to cause it to settle quickly. I had to make sure that the contractor building my foundation dug deeply enough to get past more of the bad stuff before putting in gravel and pouring concrete. I was fortunate in that the contractor was already doing this which made me feel good about using him for some other projects I had associated with the house.<\/p>\n

Finally, do anything you can to ensure proper drainage. Water will erode soil even under your home or driveway or cause the soil to settle.<\/p>\n

One thing I learned when I joined my current company is that there are hundreds of \u201crecipes\u201d for cement and that many more \u201crecipes\u201d for concrete. (Cement is essentially the \u201cbinder\u201d that holds everything together in concrete.) I don\u2019t know that anyone realized exactly how the Romans did it, but I do know that the manufacturers have MANY \u201clevers\u201d they can pull in order to achieve varying strengths and curing times. They are also constantly testing and experimenting with different additives and other cementitious (It\u2019s a real word\u2026 honestly) materials in an effort to lower costs without sacrificing strength, etc.<\/p>\n

It was more interesting than I thought it would be, honestly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ancient Roman Concrete\u2019s Durability Finally Explained   I actually work for a cement and concrete manufacturer. I was thinking more along the lines of roads<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1489,2650],"tags":[1596,2651,276,165],"class_list":["post-21791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-contributors","category-jason-m","tag-guest-contributors","tag-jason-m","tag-rome","tag-science"],"yoast_head":"\nGuest Contributor - Jason M - 10JAN2023 - Ancient Roman Concrete - Continued - Orion's Cold Fire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/guest-contributor-jason-m-10jan2023-ancient-roman-concrete-continued\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Guest Contributor - Jason M - 10JAN2023 - Ancient Roman Concrete - Continued - Orion's Cold Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ancient Roman Concrete\u2019s Durability Finally Explained   I actually work for a cement and concrete manufacturer. I was thinking more along the lines of roads\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/guest-contributor-jason-m-10jan2023-ancient-roman-concrete-continued\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Orion's Cold Fire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-10T19:16:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-10T19:40:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"photog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@orionscoldfire\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@orionscoldfire\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"photog\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/guest-contributor-jason-m-10jan2023-ancient-roman-concrete-continued\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/guest-contributor-jason-m-10jan2023-ancient-roman-concrete-continued\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"photog\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3\"},\"headline\":\"Guest Contributor – Jason M – 10JAN2023 – Ancient Roman Concrete – Continued\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-10T19:16:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-10T19:40:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/guest-contributor-jason-m-10jan2023-ancient-roman-concrete-continued\/\"},\"wordCount\":637,\"commentCount\":3,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Guest Contributors\",\"Jason M\",\"Rome\",\"science\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Guest Contributors\",\"Jason M\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/guest-contributor-jason-m-10jan2023-ancient-roman-concrete-continued\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/guest-contributor-jason-m-10jan2023-ancient-roman-concrete-continued\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/guest-contributor-jason-m-10jan2023-ancient-roman-concrete-continued\/\",\"name\":\"Guest Contributor - Jason M - 10JAN2023 - Ancient Roman Concrete - Continued - Orion's Cold Fire\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-10T19:16:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-10T19:40:31+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/guest-contributor-jason-m-10jan2023-ancient-roman-concrete-continued\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/guest-contributor-jason-m-10jan2023-ancient-roman-concrete-continued\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/guest-contributor-jason-m-10jan2023-ancient-roman-concrete-continued\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Guest Contributor – Jason M – 10JAN2023 – Ancient Roman Concrete – Continued\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/\",\"name\":\"Orion's Cold Fire\",\"description\":\"All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Orion's Cold Fire\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg\",\"width\":4022,\"height\":1419,\"caption\":\"Orion's Cold Fire\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/orionscoldfire\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3\",\"name\":\"photog\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg\",\"caption\":\"photog\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/author\/photog\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Guest Contributor - Jason M - 10JAN2023 - Ancient Roman Concrete - Continued - Orion's Cold Fire","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/guest-contributor-jason-m-10jan2023-ancient-roman-concrete-continued\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Guest Contributor - Jason M - 10JAN2023 - Ancient Roman Concrete - Continued - Orion's Cold Fire","og_description":"Ancient Roman Concrete\u2019s Durability Finally Explained   I actually work for a cement and concrete manufacturer. I was thinking more along the lines of roads","og_url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/guest-contributor-jason-m-10jan2023-ancient-roman-concrete-continued\/","og_site_name":"Orion's Cold Fire","article_published_time":"2023-01-10T19:16:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-01-10T19:40:31+00:00","author":"photog","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@orionscoldfire","twitter_site":"@orionscoldfire","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"photog","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/guest-contributor-jason-m-10jan2023-ancient-roman-concrete-continued\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/guest-contributor-jason-m-10jan2023-ancient-roman-concrete-continued\/"},"author":{"name":"photog","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3"},"headline":"Guest Contributor – Jason M – 10JAN2023 – Ancient Roman Concrete – Continued","datePublished":"2023-01-10T19:16:54+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-10T19:40:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/guest-contributor-jason-m-10jan2023-ancient-roman-concrete-continued\/"},"wordCount":637,"commentCount":3,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["Guest Contributors","Jason M","Rome","science"],"articleSection":["Guest Contributors","Jason M"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/guest-contributor-jason-m-10jan2023-ancient-roman-concrete-continued\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/guest-contributor-jason-m-10jan2023-ancient-roman-concrete-continued\/","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/guest-contributor-jason-m-10jan2023-ancient-roman-concrete-continued\/","name":"Guest Contributor - Jason M - 10JAN2023 - Ancient Roman Concrete - Continued - Orion's Cold Fire","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-01-10T19:16:54+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-10T19:40:31+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/guest-contributor-jason-m-10jan2023-ancient-roman-concrete-continued\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/guest-contributor-jason-m-10jan2023-ancient-roman-concrete-continued\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/10\/guest-contributor-jason-m-10jan2023-ancient-roman-concrete-continued\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Guest Contributor – Jason M – 10JAN2023 – Ancient Roman Concrete – Continued"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/","name":"Orion's Cold Fire","description":"All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#organization","name":"Orion's Cold Fire","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/DSC06141.jpg","width":4022,"height":1419,"caption":"Orion's Cold Fire"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/orionscoldfire"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d11e80f83f3825ce9fe38a5303eb64d3","name":"photog","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/photog-image.jpg","caption":"photog"},"url":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/author\/photog\/"}]}},"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21791"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21795,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21791\/revisions\/21795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}