How to Use Concrete to Do Anything!

Posted on: 8 January 2018

Some communities in Australia and around the world are taking note of the harm conventional concrete is doing to the environment and water quality. As rainwater falls on impermeable concrete pavements such as on parking lots, it flows away as runoff and may drain into rivers laden with polluting oil and other chemicals. 

Communities are now constructing pervious concrete parking lots so that when it rains, the water penetrates the rock structure and gets into the ground instead of flowing away contaminated. The right commercial concreters must be contracted for the construction of earth-friendly parking lots, or the project will turn out to be a disaster.

Here are tips on what to look out for to assess the likely success of a pervious concrete parking lot installation.

1.    Have commercial concreters in your locality to design the system of the pavement such that it will not get saturated during thaw-freeze cycles. In climates where freezing takes place, the design of the parking lot made of pervious concrete must be such that run-off from nearby buildings and impervious concrete parks in the neighbourhood will not flow into the frozen pervious concrete. Such runoff flowing into the porous pavement is likely to oversaturate the place with freezing water.

2.    There must be a sub-base drainage system and underlying soil that drains well to be able to install pervious concrete that will work as should. Building such a parking lot where water does not flow well into the soil beneath the pavement will also saturate the place with stagnant water.

3.    Choose only commercial concreters who have experience in installing pervious concrete to do the job. Those with training and no experience should not be considered. The particular specifics of this project will require a contractor with practical knowledge.

4.    You should observe that joints are not being cut with a saw, but with a roller.

5.    See to it that curing begins ten minutes after the concrete has been placed and goes on for a minimum of 7 days.  

6.    An evaporation retarder should be sprayed on the surface in the period between setting the plastic sheets and screening. 

7.    Any patterns to be stamped onto the pervious concrete should be made via the curing film made of plastic and use stamps that are open faced. 

Getting experienced commercial concreters to execute the task will go a long way in ensuring a successful outcome when pervious concrete is installed. Contact a company like Liquid Rock Constructions Pty Ltd to learn more.