A Simple Test That Leads To A Beautiful Driveway

Simplicity is beauty. Decorative concrete as a trend in paving and architectural works has created beautiful driveways coated and sealed by acrylic cement coatings and sealers. These projects were indeed have simple beginnings. There are simple things done in driveway installation that give beautiful results. One of which is a simple test of the workability of a fresh concrete.

             Shrinkage cracking, dilapidation, spalling and other problems occur if you have a driveway that has poor strength. A concrete driveway should have a high compressive strength. Compressive strength is the capacity of concrete to carry a load. Normally, the strength of concrete for a residential driveway should be 3000 to 4000 pounds per square unit (psi). Homeowners should be aware that there are times that the strength of concrete can be compromised by wrong cement mix, poor workmanship and most importantly by not testing the materials used for installing their driveways.

We are going to discuss here one of the mostly used test that measures the strength and workability of a freshly poured concrete in driveway installation. This test is known as slump test. The word itself gives you an idea of how the test is done. The bare meaning of the word slump is to become less or to fall or sink suddenly. 

Slump test determines how wet or how stiff the fresh concrete is just by measuring how low or high it slumps a way from a given point or height. Very simple, isn't it? Slump test determines the workability and the flow of concrete when it is not yet in its solid taste. This is done to know if you’re using a weak or strong concrete for your driveway because the material that you test is the same material that would dry and harden and would form your concrete driveway.

             Before we show how slump test is done, let us first learn how inches of slump affect a given psi of concrete. An inch of slump decreases the concrete by 500 psi. If you won't do a slump test, just imagine how much strength may be removed from the ideal driveway you want. For example, if you ordered a concrete with a 6 inch slump but what was delivered to you is a concrete with 8 inch slump and let us say that the specified psi for your driveway is 3500, you'll end up having a concrete with just 2500 psi. What will you expect with that? You will have a driveway below the minimum strength and you will have a lot of headaches repairing the damages the will result.

 Slump test is done by filling in a hollow cone mould with a sample of the freshly poured concrete. The height of the cone is 1 foot and its top internal diameter is 4 inches while the bottom internal diameter is 8 inches. The cone is lifted vertically upwards and slump is measured. The normal slump is 4 to 6 inches or 50 to 90 millimeters. This means these numbers show that the fresh concrete of your driveway has medium workability. Concrete that has either too low or too high slumps has poor workability. This is an indication that the concrete doesn't stop flowing or too difficult to use.

             In order for homeowners to have a beautiful driveway, simple tests like slump test shouldn't be forgotten.