History of Concrete

Concrete has been used since the days of the Pharaohs in ancient Egypt. What product do you think has held the Pyramids together for 4,000 years?! Today, concrete is the primary material used in driveways, patios, basements, sub-floors, and many other household and building areas. Annual production of concrete is almost 5 billion cubic yards.

Since early civilization building began, materials and compounds were sought that would bind stones into a solid mass. The Assyrians and Babylonians used clay for that purpose, and the Egyptians discovered lime and gypsum mortar as the binding agent for the earliest forms of concrete. However, it was the Romans that perfected the art of concrete production. They mixed slaked lime with volcanic ash from Mt. Vesuvius, and the rest is, well, history.

John Smeaton, a British engineer, conducted experiments with mortars in both fresh and salt water to help in the building of the Eddystone Lighthouse in Cornwall, England. In 1759, it was completed and has stood for over 126 years.

In 1824, Joseph Aspdin, a bricklayer in Leeds, England, took out a patent on a hydraulic cement he called Portland. It was named after the color resembling the stone quarried on the Isle of Portland. Aspdin's method involved a mixture of limestone and clay; then, pulverizing them; and, finally, burning the mixture in a clinker, which was then ground into finished cement.

In 1868, the first recorded shipment of Portland was shipped to the United States. The European manufacturers began shipping it to America as ballast in tramp steamers at very low freight rates. Today, PermaCrete has advanced this procedure. PermaCrete has over 170 standard concrete colors, all with a compressive strength of over 6,000 PSI. Importantly, PermaCrete has been used to resurface nearly 200 million sq. ft. of new and old surfaces all over the world.