[Greenbuilding] Redoing all floors

RT Archilogic at yahoo.ca
Thu Jul 28 20:29:57 CDT 2011


On Thu, 28 Jul 2011 11:27:20 -0400, Ktot (g) <ktottotc at gmail.com> wrote:

> ***NO water was added at the site. The concrete came straight out of the  
> concrete truck,

For as long as I can remember (and I've been around long enough that I  
remember milk in glass bottles  being delivered to my parents' home via a  
horse-drawn wagon) all of the concrete trucks (transit mixers) I've seen  
have carried their own water and water hoses.

Also, in addition to "WWT*", another of the most frequently uttered  
phrases by concrete workers on residential construction sites when the  
first see the concrete coming down the chute is "MORE WATER!" a request  
that is invariably and unquestioningly complied to by an obliging truck  
driver.

You might want to Google "concrete mix proportions" and/or,  
"water-to-cement
ratio" to see why this is not a good idea.

> what is "unglazed, fully vitrified porcelain"?

The Latin root "vitreum" and the French word for glass (vitere) are pretty  
good clues as to what the vitrification process yields.

Fully-vitrified porcelain (or similar concoctions ie "Graniti Fiandre"
being one product) is almost glass-lie -- ie the same consistency  
throughout the body of the material and fully
impervious to water.

ie If you cut it, you can grind and polish the cut edge to a finished edge  
so you can leave it exposed and the material can be used in extreme  
(including freezing outdoor) service conditions.

Whereas tiles that are not fully vitrified have a soft core with only a
very thin, hardened surface layer, usually with a glaze to protect the
underlying material. If that hardened surface layer  is chipped, the  
underlying softer core
material being exposed, ultimately leads to the tile needing to be  
replaced.

[ * WWT = "Whoa!  WHOA!!!  TABERNAC !!!!" (or its equivalents in  
Portuguese, Spanish etc.), usually almost immediately preceded by an  
episode of a series of curious arm and hand movements to a driver trying  
to back up a huge truck blind,  on a site full of obstructions and hazards  
]

-- 
=== * ===
Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada
< A r c h i L o g i c  at  Y a h o o  dot  C A >
(manually winnow the chaff from my edress if you hit REPLY)




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