• Concrete

    I decided  some time ago to “phase out” concrete for several reasons, some include the fact the material is not stocked by any local outfits to me, which always meant having to drive to another town whose building supply/lumber yard stocks it-  an18 mile drive each way. It also tends to be a seasonal product since nobody pours concrete here when it’s 10 degrees outside, so if they have any bags of Portland cement at that lumberyard in the winter or early spring it’s been sitting in their unheated warehouse for months absorbing moisture which causes lumps and poor curing.

    I never used enough of it to use up whole bags and it doesn’t store well at all, even sealed up in plastic bags it still winds up absorbing moisture from the air and becomes all but unusable in a few weeks and I wound up throwing away significant quantities.

    There was one period a few years ago where a bunch of clients ordered concrete all at the same time, so I decided to buy a pallet worth- 40 bags 50# each from the local place who agreed to order and deliver it, but then after it was delivered, nobody ordered concrete, so it all sat stacked in the basement and after a few months it was all unusable, I wound up burying about 35 bags of it because the garbage man won’t take the stuff and there’s no place to dispose of it either.

    I decided I’m not going to mess with concrete any further, way too much hassle, and it adds considerably to the shipping costs. The idea of phasing it out  was mainly to replace it with hand-pressed kiln fired terracotta, so far about a dozen designs are available in this permanent, more valuable material. Concrete being just a cheap material has no intrinsic value to it.

    I removed all references I found to concrete on my web sites, and in the price list, if any remain beyond a single sitting dog cast  I have stored away that is for sale, it was an oversight on my part.