NO Concrete?

Can you imagine a world without any concrete?  What might your own life look like without any concrete whatsoever?

Probably just about the first thing most of us think about when it comes to concrete are sidewalks and roads or highways.  But that's just a start when it comes to things made of concrete.  Let your mind wonder for just a minute and make a mental list of things that you know that are concrete.  You might think of bridges, overpasses, buildings, retaining walls ... that sort of thing.  If you thought of these things you'd be right of course.   These items are the obvious and are just scratching the surface when it comes to things composed or built using concrete.

Concrete for Security & Safety

Visit a government office nowadays and you're likely to see some sort of concrete barriers.  They are probably disguised a little bit in some way.  However, these steel reinforced blocks are used to keep vehicles that might be loaded with explosives far enough away from the building so as to minimize structural integrity issues were a terrorist bent on causing destruction.  This use of concrete became necessary in the last decade following the Oklahoma City bombing and then the 9-11 assault.

We see concrete barricades at airports, too.  These block cars from certain areas and thus enhance public safety of all airport users.  But that's not all.  How about during road construction?  More and more we're seeing powerfully heavy concrete barriers used to protect workers as well as minimize accidents in highway construction zones.  In some major metropolitan areas, concrete blocks are aligned and movable with specially designed machines for controlling HOV lanes for variances in morning and afternoon commute peak times.

An acquaintance of mine is building a home in the mountains mostly made of concrete and even has concrete roofing tiles.  They are extremely concerned, almost phobic, about fire danger with where they own property and want a safe place in case the winds whip up and create a major fire disaster.

Decorative Concrete

Concrete has been used for floors for years.  However, a recent trend is finishing this concrete for a variety of looks both in offices and certain residential facilities.  Then there's using various decorative concrete outside in the garden.  We have some very large concrete pots holding small trees that are around our pool area.  They're durable and extremely heavy, which is why we got them.  They do NOT blow over.  We also have concrete tiles that line flower beds and even a few for stepping stones.

I've seen some awesome fences that had molds creating beautiful looks where the concrete was stained.  Not long ago while traveling I noticed an entire neighborhood with concrete lighting poles.  This was a new experience as I'd never seen such a thing before.  They were pretty cool looking.

Decorative Concrete

If you're interested in learning more and finding quite a few additional resource links, then visit Wikipedia by clicking on concrete.