Behind the Scenes of Concrete😁
It's a freezing Monday morning in late September, I wake up to the blaring sound of my alarm clock. I rub my eyes, yawn, scratch my head and finally hop out of bed to stretch. I check the time: 5:00 AM. Today would be my second week on the job as a concrete worker, and I wanted to be prepared for the long 9 hour shift. My boss, James B., had offered me a ride to work and I happily accepted. As a concrete worker, we were always moving and shifting to new locations near Atlanta, which would usually be an hour and ten minute drive. Every squad in the company would drive a white pickup truck with the logo neatly painted on the doors and in the back was an enormous metal bar frame holding a plethora of tools, hardware, and spare shoes and gloves.
"Vamanos! Lets go!" shouted my boss, waking me up from an unbelievably comfortable nap. This week was preparation week, meaning we had to prepare the site for the concrete that would be poured on Friday. Since the first day, I was told to partner with the other new guy and a crew of experienced workers. In the beginning, I had trouble fitting in, seeing as they had a work flow that I didn't quite get down at first. Naturally, I was tasked with the easy jobs like cleaning up and fetching supplies; I used that time to observe their efficiency and speed. However, after the first week, I was already getting involved with the more difficult tasks.
We started off by digging with shovels to level and clear the area in order to build the parameter for the area being covered in concrete. At first I thought to myself that this seemed too easy but I would later find out that digging could last a couple hours. "Dylan! come over here." my boss said with a quick and loud whistle. I ran over to him and he told me to fetch a couple more shovels for the guys who had arrived late. After grabbing a couple more shovels, I started digging. I could already feel the soreness settling in, the heat on my back, and my whole body sweating profusely. Refreshments were such a huge necessity that we had a dedicated cooler filled with waters and drinks buried in a pile of ice. Injuries were incredibly common at the work site, so it was mandatory for workers to follow strict uniform requirements. This would include a bright neon colored shirt, jacket, or vest, a hard hat, safety glasses, and gloves. I never thought laying concrete could be so dangerous, but I noticed that it was often preparations that caused the most injury. The clock struck 12:00 PM and it was finally time for lunch. It was common to bring home-made food among some workers however, there were always delicious Mexican restaurants around the corner from the work site; this was always our crew's go-to spot. It was always so difficult coming back to work with a full stomach, but for others it was just the refill of energy they needed. For the last four hours, we went back to shoveling, my arms and legs getting weaker with every motion.
Every time I looked around, everyone always had something to do, whether it was small task like sweeping the unfinished hallways of any dust, or soldering pieces of heavy metal onto the roof. Most of the men here were around the age of thirty to sixty and seemed to have about one to two years of experience judging by their callus covered hands and somewhat muscular build. A lot of the work around the site required that you be able to lift around twenty pounds easily, however for my crew it seemed like the minimum requirement was a hundred pounds. We had to lift long iron bars, metal plates and piles of wooden planks on nothing but our backs. "I started working in concrete when I was seventeen, by the time I was twenty I could handle pretty much anything..." responded James B. to a question I asked about his involvement in the company.
Friday had finally come around and I was excited to pour the concrete. Compared to everything else, pouring concrete was the easiest part of the job. A few days beforehand, I had asked around the crew to find out what their opinion was on pouring concrete. "It's not easy, make sure you bring your rubber boots." warned Eduardo, a thirty-seven year old man from Mexico. "Make sure you're extremely careful." Said Elias, a forty-six year old man from Texas.
Once we arrived at the site, it was almost instant. Like firemen responding to the the fire alarm, getting ready in a minutes notice. I rushed to put on my boots, grabbed a concrete spreader, and began jogging. From a distance, I could see a series of long thick tubes connected to a large cement truck. The thick tubes transported the hot concrete to the area it was being poured. Only strong crew members could be in charge of maneuvering the tube using a metal hook to guide the tube around the area. It was extremely heavy; and later on I got the opportunity to pick up one of the disassembled tube pieces. When concrete is first poured, it is essentially a liquid, which then must be quickly spread and applied to the required area. "Imagine concrete as a hot wax" says James B., who is one of the leading managers at Concrete Works, LLC. The workers spread the concrete from the source evenly throughout the specified area with their concrete placers, which is needed for two reasons: the concrete is extremely hot once its' poured and it is also extremely heavy. We also have to wear rubber boots, similar to the ones worn when splashing in puddles, to reduce the surface area of our feet exposed to hot concrete and to allow for easier traversal. A group of one or more workers are in charge of leveling out height of the concrete by dragging a large, long rectangular metal bar along the whole area. "We need to use the concrete wisely, and the bar is essential to keeping the floor even and level." says James B. Another problem when pouring concrete is the air bubbles trapped inside, and this could lead to structural weaknesses once it has been dried and cured. To prevent this, another group of workers are tasked with running a concrete vibrator along the sides of the area to make the concrete more malleable near the bottom allowing the concrete to sink to the bottom filling in any small empty spaces.
After the pouring was complete, we all grabbed our concrete floats for the first stage of the process. We were all meticulous in our movements, we had to make the surface of the concrete look uniform and without imperfections like small craters on the surface or small inconsistencies with the horizontal level. About 15 minutes of back and fourth leveling, we changed tools to adjust to the stiffness of the concrete using concrete trowels instead of floats. Often the concrete would still have small craters the size of a crumb, called surface voids. These surface voids are the perfect examples of small imperfections affecting the overall structural integrity of the concrete. Too many surface voids in or on the concrete will often lead to the project being wasted resulting in wasted money and time. ( "How Can" ). Another problem that could affect the concrete was unforeseen weather. This happened around three times, and in almost every instance our progress would be ruined. Concrete with too much water will dilute the mixture resulting in a gray aqueous soup that would no longer have the property of hardening. This was especially frustrating for my boss because he was in charge of scheduling a concrete mixer. James B. comments, "Any mistake is incredibly costly, so I make sure that everyone knows exactly what their job is."
Concrete is found virtually anywhere you look, ranging from small sidewalks and homes all the way up to buildings and skyscrapers. Its versatility is one of the many reasons why it's so widely used: "basic foundation, parking lot structures, superstructures, floor construction..." just to name a few ("How"). And the concrete did not grow there, it had to be placed, molded, designed, and then cured. During my time working here, my view on concrete had completely changed. There were sometimes weeks if not months, depending on the size, of preparation for the concrete, and after pouring you still have to spend a few extra days just to cure the concrete. As a worker, time moved incredibly slow. Shoveling would last hours but it would feel like days, and building the mold for the concrete felt exactly the same. So next time you see safety cones placed around wet cement, ensure that you do not let your pet or yourself accidentally step on the concrete, because that could be hours of a worker's life thrown away. 😑
“How Is Concrete Used in Construction Projects: Esub.” ESUB Construction Software,https://esub.com/blog/how-is-concrete-used-in-construction-projects/. (accessed 03-29-2023)
“How Can I Eliminate Surface Voids in Concrete?” Smooth, https://www.smooth-on.com/(accessed 03-29-2023)
James B., personal communications, March 14, 2023
Great blog. I feel like i can personally lay concrete now. I honestly didn't know that much effort was needed for such a task. You explained this job very well.
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