A new parking pad, garage foundation, or other concrete surface in your yard is a great project you can do mostly by yourself to save money. But when you are working with concrete, ordering it ready made from a local concrete supplier helps you have both a better quality product as well as a better finished surface, in addition to several other benefits. The following illustrates some benefits of using ready mix concrete from your local concrete supplier for your next project.
Opt For the Right Additives
When you order a ready mix concrete from a local concrete supplier you can order the concrete for your job's specifications. Concrete ready mix suppliers have a variety of additives they can mix into your batch of concrete to provide it with extra features and qualities to make it last longer for your project. So, for example, if you need to strengthen the concrete to protect it from freeze and thaw cycles in the winter, there is an additive that allows microscopic air bubbles to remain within the concrete when it cures for added strength.
Ask your ready mix supplier about additives, such as accelerating additives, which help the hydration rate of your concrete when you pour it during cold weather. This additive helps the concrete reach a stronger cure faster to give your non-reinforced concrete parking pad, for example, more strength to support your recreational vehicles.
Consistent Concrete Product
The more DIY approach to mixing and pouring your own concrete consists of mixing the concrete yourself in batches at your project site with a mobile cement mixer. The problems that come from preparing your concrete this way can include inconsistencies between your concrete batches and differing cure times of each batch.
Because you are only able to mix and pour a limited amount of concrete each time, your projects will require several batches of concrete. The potential for each batch to have different measurements of each material can make the finished product lack quality and be prone to cracking and spalling. A ready mix order is combined in one mixture without inconsistencies for a better concrete.
Helpful to the Environment
When you order and use a ready mix concrete, the local concrete supplier will be able to use the materials they already have available and reduce the amount of waste during the process. Because they specialize in mixing and delivering concrete products, they can tailor it to your order and also use recycled materials they have available.
For example, when they incorporate recycled concrete into each batch order of new concrete, they can reduce the amount of new aggregate they need to use for each order. And because you order the exact amount that you need for your concrete project, there is not going to be a lot of extra concrete left over after it is poured, which reduces wasted concrete materials.