Before understanding Ready Mix Concrete, we need to know about the concrete first. Just like emotion is the necessity between two people to bind them with each other. The role played by emotions is replaced by concrete when it comes to building materials. Concrete consists of fine and coarse aggregates with cement and water in form of a fluid surry; the fluid gets hardened over time. It is the most widely used construction material and the second most employed substance after water. In the past, cement binders were lime-based. With time just like many other things concrete also kept replacing its ingredients according to availability and demand.
Usually, we have seen on-site mixing of aggregates to make concrete. At the present time, there is the availability of Ready Mix Concrete too. These are manufactured in concrete batching plants. The input usually includes sand, aggregate, cement, water, silica fumes and fly ash.
However, the mix is prepared according to the specifications mentioned about the job and then delivered to the building site. This is delivered in two ways:
- In-transit mixers: also known famously as barrel trucks, that deliver concrete in a pliable state
- Volumetric concrete mixer: delivers concrete mix in a dry state and then gets in the final state on site.
BENEFITS OF RMC
Ready Mix Concrete is designed as per the requirements; hence only needed aggregate is mixed in mixtures which minimises the wastage of material and money invested in it.
This helps in the easy storage, transportation and maintenance of concrete mix. Dry ingredients are usually harmful to the environment of a construction site and this problem is easily solved by ready-mix concrete.
Quality, strength and resilience provided by ready-mix concrete to the structure are long-lasting and better than the concrete traditionally prepared.
Ready-mix concrete is specifically designed for different purposes as per usage. While making this concrete manufacturer keeps in mind the force of nature (sunlight, water) this structure will have to encounter on regular basis. The concrete used for the construction of the swimming pool will be different from the concrete used for the basketball ground.
RMC saves a lot of money and makes the process very fast. When compared to the cost of extra labour required, Ready Mix Concrete is pocket friendly to consumers.
Also Read: National Logistics Policy 2022
TYPES OF READY-MIX CONCRETE
Concrete traditionally prepared on construction sites is also known as nominal concrete and ready-mix concrete is also known as design-mix concrete. RMCs are designed for different purposes as per need and are classified into three categories.
Each category has 5 different grades of RMC. Each grade of the mix is recognised by the MPa provided to the structure by that concrete mix. The 3 classifications of different grades of Ready mix concrete are:
1. Normal Concrete Mix:
Usually, the concrete mix is represented by M. The 5 grades included in the normal concrete category are M 5, M 7.5, M 10, M 15 and M 20. For all these five grades difference in strength and MPa arises by mixing cement, sand and aggregate in different ratios.
The 5 mixes in this grade have pre-decided ratios for cement, sand and aggregate. These grades of concrete mix are considered good for work of levelling or bedding of footing. The M 20 mix is best for works of slab, beams and columns.
2. Standard Concrete Mix:
The five types of concrete mix in this category are M 25, M 30, M 35, M 40 and M 45. M 25 is the only mix in this category which has a pre-decided ratio of 1:1:2 for cement, sand and aggregate.
The four mixes (M 30, M 35, M 40 and M 45) are designed as per the demand of structure. M 40 and M 45 concrete mixes are usually used for RCC columns, RCC runways and concrete roads.
3. High Strength Concrete mix:
This designed concrete category include five grade which are M 50, M 55, M 60, M 65 and M 70. This is the concrete category which provides the highest strength to the structure. Such concrete mixes are used for the construction of dams, coastal construction, long-span bridges and high rise buildings.
THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE ORDERING RMC
The delivery of Ready Mix Concrete needs broad roads and has to consume that mix within 210 minutes (3 hours and 30 minutes).
The time limitation makes it necessary to purchase RMC from nearby places to enable speedy delivery and maximum usage.
Usually, traffic is low at night hours so manufacturers prefer to deliver the mix at night. Builders have to keep their labours ready as per the need.
Before placing the order there should be a clear idea about the purpose, the need for the purpose (building structure) and the volume of the structure to avoid wastage. This is so because the mix gets prepared in batches in the factories of ready-mix concrete.
CONCLUSION
Ready-mix concrete is a big help to builders in time and space utilisations. The strength required by each kind of structure classified by different grades of mixes ( from M 5 to M 70) makes it easier to place orders by the consumers or builders.
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It’s nice that you pointed out how the quality, strength, and resilience provided by ready-mix concrete to the structure are long-lasting and better than the concrete traditionally prepared. We are going to do some major renovations to our house soon and we’ll definitely need a lot of concrete for it. Mixing our own concrete seems too troublesome, so we should probably just order some ready-mix concrete.
It’s great that you pointed out how ready-mix concrete would save a lot of money and make the process very fast. We are about to start a new construction project and we need a lot of concrete for it. So to make things easier, we should probably ask for residential concrete mix services.
It was fascinating to know that ready-mix concrete can minimize the wastage of material. My friend needs ready mix concrete for their project. I should advise him to work with a supplier that provides quality concrete supplies.
I never took into account as a fact that ready-mixed concrete would have different purposes depending on the needs and categories that you might need them for. It seems like we have to work with a contractor to actually get the right materials for the project we want to have on our property. This is for the construction of the driveway now that we are getting two vehicles part our yard.