When doing work on military installations, contractors must comply with specific requirements and specifications not always found in civilian jobs. As part of these requirements, and similar to government transportation projects, construction contractors can only use approved materials for military projects.

In November 2019, local contractor Gonzalez-De La Garza & Associates needed to install 4000-psi concrete pads over an existing slab as part of a commercial boiler installation project at the U.S. Army's Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. The contractor needed a fast-setting material with high-early strength for the concrete pads. Rapid Set® Concrete Mix was approved for use in this project.

Concrete Mix is a high-performance structural repair material that can be applied from 2 to 24 inches thick. Durable in wet environments, it sets in 15 minutes, is ready for traffic in one hour and reaches a compressive strength of 4500 psi in 24 hours. The multipurpose material is used in projects where fast strength gain, high durability and low shrinkage are required, making it an ideal choice for airport and military pavement repairs as well as the construction of industrial floors and machine bases.

For the Fort Sam project, Concrete Mix was mixed using a Hippo mixer (four bags at a time). Rapid Set® FLOW Control water-reducing additive and Rapid Set® SET Control set-retarding admixture were added to the mix to increase fluidity and extend the material’s working time.

Each concrete pad was hand-troweled and broom-finished, then water-cured for 1 hour.

All parties were pleased with the project and the overall performance of Concrete Mix.