Structural Concrete

Structural concrete, or reinforced concrete, is a type of concrete that is used in large-scale commercial buildings. This type of concrete is usually insulated with metal; giving an incredibly strong hold to the concrete once it is set and dry. This technique dates back all the way to 1853, when Francois Coignet built the forest iron-reinforced concrete structure. His building was a technological marvel and, ever since then, this technique has been used in construction; evolving over the years to become so strong that it is used in multi-level skyscrapers.
 
Concrete Slab
One of the main uses of structural concrete is the pouring of a reinforced concrete slab. In typical slabs, a pad is excavated and then a concrete slab is simply poured in to place and leveled out, before being set to harden. These foundations can hold a significant amount of weight, but they can’t sustain massive loads. For structural concrete foundations, weexcavate an area and then, before pouring in concrete, we run metal rebar through the excavation area; forming a metal reinforced base. After this is done, we pour concrete directly on top of the metal rebar, trapping it inside the concrete. This gives added strength to the concrete slab; allowing to hold a massive amount of weight without cracking.
 
Weight Load
While there is no set amount of weight that a reinforced slab can hold, the idea is that these types of slabs can hold buildings that are many stories in height. Because of the addition of rebar, these slabs can be stack with building material, without the fear of the slab cracking, breaking, buckling or sinking in to the ground. If you are looking to build up a commercial building, let us know so that we can give you an absolutely amazing reinforced concrete slab to build on top of.
 
Types of Structures
While slabs are the most common type of structural concrete structures, there are many different things that can be built with this process. These other structures include: walls, beams, columns, frames and foundations. Depending on your work site, and how much space is allowed for machinery and people, structural concrete can either be cast in place (aka: pour on site) or it can be prefabricated, off site, and then trucked in to assemble. Prefabricated pieces allows for quicker building, and installation, on site.
 
Properties
There are three main, physical properties for structural concrete. The first of these properties is that the coefficient of thermal expansions eliminates internal stressing caused by differences in thermal contraction and expansion. The second property is that, when the cement paste is poured over the rebar, it fills in to the imperfections in the rebar, creating a stronger bond which helps to omit stress. The third property is that, because of the chemicals that are in the concrete, the concrete forms a thing layer of protective barrier around the rebar, which helps to prevent internal corrosion caused by moisture.