• Working with concrete requires skill, patience and physical effort.Concrete mixer image by zalisa from Fotolia.com
  
  Concrete is cement with added binding stone. Concrete work involves creating a surface, forms and pouring wet concrete. Once poured the concrete will cure in about 24 hours into a hard material with a variety of surface options. Working with concrete requires skill, patience, a good sense of timing, accurate scheduling and a certain amount of physical strength. Doing the necessary work well the first time ensures a quality concrete job that won't have to be torn out and poured again later.
  
  

Surface

• Concrete is a fluid material until the water content evaporates and results in a hard but brittle material. A thick slab of concrete stepped on by an average person in the wrong place can fracture. The surface for pouring concrete must support the concrete's weight and also provide an even stable foundation.
  
  Surfaces can be graded soil covered in a stone bed or plastic concrete liner. The surface can also be other concrete covered with a fresh layer. A concrete surface should be roughed with a grinder or have a regular pattern of holes drilled into the surface. Roughing the surface provides texture for fresh wet concrete to cling. Holes will be filled with wet concrete cured with the fresh concrete layer. These "feet" will prevent the new concrete from sliding away from the original concrete surface.
  
  

Forms

• Concrete needs forms to create the final shape. Lengths of board staked into the surface can form the sides of driveways, carports or sidewalks. Plywood cut into different shapes and secured together into boxes or other forms can produce solid concrete shapes.
  
  The one precaution when creating forms is that all parts are adequately reinforced. Sidewalk forms created with thin wood slat stakes several feet apart can move and be overwhelmed with containing several inches of wet concrete. A plywood sheet can bulge or break when containing what could be a ton or more of concrete poured into the form. Reinforce form walls with additional wood cross pieces or whole pieces of plywood creating a wall more than an inch thick.
  
  

Pouring Concrete

• Concrete should leave the concrete plant by truck and arrive on a job site in less than one hour. The mixer's steady turning will prevent the concrete from curing but with time the mixture will stiffen and lose consistency.
  
  Pour concrete steadily at an even rate. When poured use floats (large metal plates attached to pole handles) to smooth and even the surface. As the float works water will rise to the concrete's settling surface. Push the water aside and continue working the float on the surface until most of the water is removed.
  
  Concrete expands and contracts with heat and cold. Expansion lines cut into the surface every few feet reduce cracking and concrete failure. Use a piece of straight lumber as a guide for straight consistent expansion joints. Once the concrete is poured and successfully worked, avoid the surface for at least 24 hours. Cover with a plastic or wood sheet to protect the surface until cured. Do not worry about rain or water. Concrete continues curing whether wet or dry.