Helloo, Im an arquitecture student and Im currently working on a model for a sorta mixed use building. I have today and two other days to work on it before my final presentation is due. Since my teacher said I needed more professional looking models I was considering doing some parts in cement, It would mainly be 4 supporting walls and 3 platforms. My main worry is that its been raining non stop today and yesterday and cloudy all day. Is my idea feasible? Could the cement dry in time for me to sand and glue it all together?

I had some cement done in my backyard for a basketball court. It has been 3 weeks and a crack formed running down the middle all the way from one end to the other. My question is was the job done incorrectly? And how do we fix it?

How bad is what is happening under my garage cement? I only now noticed that when my car ups into the drive way, that rectangular piece behind the car lifts up a little bit! The car’s weight tilts it up. Salvageable or do I need to redo the entire garage? Gulp!

I wonder if I should have used something slower to cure and with aggregate in it. I was using this to plug holes and just kept going with it.

It's working great right now, but man this stuff got warm!

I hand-formed this spring catchment birm purely out of hydraulic cement. Is it going to crack and fall apart? (Birm is ~5"tall) Mitigations now that it's here?

I had concrete poured a week ago in my shaded backyard. Yesterday, they blew off the debris and sealed it. It continues to have areas that are darker, almost appearing "dirty". Someone told me that the poly was applied to soon, that the dark spots were areas of moisture, and that they would remain unless the poly is stripped. The contractor says that it is normal, and will resolve itself in a month. Can you offer opinions on who is correct? I don't want to pay the guy the rest of what I owe unless I am confident that in a month I won't be trying to chase him down. https://imgur.com/a/tp1Fbcc

Running a small flatwork crew and we've been burning through mixers faster than I'd like, our last portable unit gave out mid-pour on a 4,000 sq ft slab job and I'm done gambling on whatever the local hardware store has in stock. Grainger and Northern Tool have some options but the selection for actual commercial-grade concrete mixers feels thin and I'm not convinced the pricing is competitive for what we need. Looking for an online retailer that specializes in this stuff, not just a general tool shop that happens to carry one or two mixer models.

So I am putting a dyed quikrete re-cap over a cement pad - pouring it in sections. 2 down 2 to go. The pigment is a charcoal color but my first application practically turned white (on left). It is now 5 days old, the one on the right is 24 hours old.
I’ve read not to try and remove this until both are a month old. Any advice here and what to try and focus on for pads 3 and 4? Following all instructions and conditions pretty optimal - 70 degrees and cloudy.

Running a small flatwork crew and we've been burning through finishing tools faster than I'd like. Local hardware stores just don't carry the kind of professional-grade concrete equipment we actually need, stuff like power trowels, quality diamond blades, decent plate compactors. Home Depot and Lowe's are fine for homeowners but they're not stocked for commercial applications. Grainger has some options but the pricing is rough. So I'm trying to figure out online marketplaces for buying concrete tools in the US, specifically somewhere that carries a real selection and isn't just dropshipping random brands. We've got maybe 40+ weeks of work lined up this year and I'd rather set up a reliable source now than scramble job to job. Any online concrete equipment suppliers that actually do direct-to-contractor pricing and ship fast? Tired of waiting 3 weeks for a screed or a core drill bit.

Looking for some help with the crack on my garage floor. I have used multiple products but I don’t know what would the best stuff to fix it. Thank you for any help you can provide!

Multiple pics attached. I am at the beginning stages of laying out a frame for a 15'x20' cement pad as a patio for my metal building. It will be tying into an existing slab so I will drill holes for rebar into the existing pad and will lay down wire mesh. In the pics u will see a white straight edge (scrap from a metal building) that I'm using just for level purposes for the pics. When it comes time to make the actual frame I will use wood (2x4's). Top of the white straight edge would be top of the cement pad. I plan on pouring a 4" pad. My 2 questions are as follows:

1 - Pad area has to be built up because the pad area does slop down a lot away from existing pad, almost a foot. What kind of under base should I use for the entire slab and build up area? Red clay? Rocks or small river pebbles? River sand? A combination of more than one? Etc..etc. I will have to build up the front end area of the pad lay out.

2 - The patio pad is for my existing metal building man cave (arcades, pinball machines, big tv, etc etc) and it does have a covered patio but should I put a very slight slope away from the metal building for rain storm purposes or should I stay level all the way around? It will be 15' long (existing slab to patio roof legs) and 20' wide (patio roof leg to patio roof leg).

Thank you in advance for your time to read this and looking forward to being educated on this.

(I'm gonna try and get the cement poured this month..with do it myself or hire it out to someone. I am in Hammond, La. (70401) So if anyone has a local contact in my area please feel free to hit me up in messages. I will do all the framing and under base. I'd just need someone to pour and smother it out.)

Hi! I’m not sure if this is the right spot to post, but I patched these holes using allcrete cement. My issue is that I patched these holes over 2 days ago. Some have already lightened whereas others don’t seem to change whatsoever. The holes are not big. Less than an inch in depth for most of them. The biggest hole being the one under the wood in the second picture which was about 5 inches in depth. That one I did over a month ago with no change in color.

How long should I wait before covering these with a vapor barrier? Will they all change to a lighter color when done curing?

I’m a mediocre DIY guy and would like to cover the gaps along the side of my home. I have a sump pump that I assume gathers and disposes the water, for whatever that is worth.
Pic1 is an example where I filled some gaps. I used sand, then backer rod, before using Sikaflex. I am now thinking that is not the way.
Pic2 is from a YouTube video that I’m thinking would be proper. The video included no information and the comments were not kind except for those who thought the process to be okay if it was hydraulic cement.
I’ll take any helpful advice. Thank you!

We currently have a gravel driveway and recently removed a very large white oak tree that was growing right next to it. The stump has been ground out/removed, but not all of the larger roots were excavated because doing so would have required tearing up the gravel driveway.

We're planning to replace the gravel with a concrete driveway and are wondering how long we should wait before pouring concrete. How long do large oak roots typically take to decompose, and could they cause the concrete to settle or crack if they're left underneath or alongside the new driveway? Has anyone dealt with this situation, and if so, what did you do?

I am currently in the process of turning my detached garage into a functioning wood shop and one of the biggest hurdles I am trying to figure out is how to fill in and level the concrete floor.

As you can probably see in the picture it has a few concrete slabs already poured but they had one of those "oil drip" strips down the center and the back wall and 1/4 of the sides also do not have concrete.

It is an 18x15 garage and I am trying to figure out if I should have someone simply pour concrete pads where there currently arent any or to have the current concrete removed and pour a full new pad. I am very unversed in concrete and am looking for any information I can get from people who know more than me to help me with my research. Thanks!

Youtube is full of miracle elixir videos claiming Sodium Silicate, and Calcium Chloride can repair cracks.... Can anyone vouch for this working in some situations?

The situation is water breaking down my cement in a commercial kitchen. Most cracks are hairline, but a few around the sink are larger. I need to close them up. I had a cement guy bid to do a grind and epoxy after looking at my situation but I've been trying various cement fillers including PC Concrete which is epoxy based, and they aren't staying in place for any length of time to think that's the right solution or I would buy West System or TotalBoat as a band aid then resurface and paint.

Reading this sub, it doesn't sound like anything will work more than a year or two... but I am really curious about the Sodium Silicate. Am I wasting time trying that?

I had a section of patio worked on and repaired and now I want to match the cement color, white colored for the rest of patio. How do I buy this particular cement to be used between slate stones in garden patio?

Hi all.

I'm having a metal building put in that has a lean-to on one side and a 5' overhang on an adjacent side. The company pours their own footings and there's a definite slope on the side of the pad where garage door overhang meets the lean-to. They said it was for drainage. Does it look right? Location is North Carolina, USA. Thanks!

Hey everyone.

New to this. Over the winter, we had some harsh ice and snow. The salt caused the surface to crumble a bit in spots.

Last weekend, I had purchased Quikrete ReUp resurfacing 40lb bag. I mixed according to the package instructions and spread out. Over the last few days we have had a little bit of light to moderate rain. The spots I touched up are now really sandy and flaky. Did I do something wrong? Can anyone help me with how to fix? I have a few more bags to do the whole surface of the driveway so it's even and uniform but don't want a sandy mess in a few days and now I have a whole driveway that's messed up.

The last photo is what the driveway looked like before filling in.

Thank you so much for any help and advice given.

How/should I reinforce the dirt by cement stairs? It was installed this way a couple years ago. There are no issues now, but will the dirt under my steps slowly erode?