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Mix design, subgrade, formwork, rebar, placing, finishing, joints, curing and cubic yards. Every topic gets its own page: the drawing first, then what you need to remember. 66 illustrated pages.
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Every page has one big drawing and a box with the numbers you need to know:
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These are real pages from the book. The table of contents is the full one: 9 parts and 62 topics.
You're on a practice question about the layers under a slab, and subgrade, subbase and base start to blur together. You've graded and compacted that ground a thousand times.
The manual covers it in long paragraphs: definitions, materials, depths, a code section number. You know the dirt. You just don't know the words the exam uses for it.
In the book, that same slab is cut open in a drawing: native soil at the bottom, then subbase, then base, with 4 in of base and the 3-1/2 in slab minimum from IRC R506 marked right on the layers.
Same with the delivery ticket, the 3-4-5 check, rebar sizes, why concrete cracks and the magic number 27: each one has its own page.
You see it, it makes sense, and you answer the question without going back to the manual.
How concrete works, ordering and testing, subgrade and base, formwork, reinforcement, placing and finishing, joints, curing and weather, concrete math, and defects, safety and exam review: 66 pages, all illustrated.
Think of it this way:
You're taking the exam and a question gives you a 30 x 40 slab, 4 in thick, and asks how many cubic yards to order. On the job you'd call the plant. Here you have to work it out yourself.
In the book you open the page on the magic number 27 and see a cubic yard drawn as a block: 27 cubic feet, with the inches divided by 12 before you multiply.
The night before, you flip to sawcut depth, lap splices, concrete cover and the 90-minute rule: four pages, four answers you can find at a glance.
Concrete Contractor Illustrated is 66 pages in 9 parts, all drawn, with the 25 numbers to know by heart and a plan for your last two weeks at the end.
What you see drawn, you don't have to memorize.
The 4 ingredients, water-cement ratio, hydration, strength in psi, cement Types I to V, admixtures and air entrainment.
Reading a mix design and a batch ticket, the 90-minute or 300-revolution rule, slump, air and temperature tests, and test cylinders.
Subgrade, subbase and base, soil types and bearing, compaction and the Proctor test, vapor retarders, slope and drainage, frost depth.
Slab forms with stakes and kickers, footing and wall forms, form release and stripping, radius work and flatness tolerances.
Rebar sizes in eighths, welded wire, concrete cover, lap splices, chairs and dobies, hooks and dowels, and how to recognize a post-tensioned slab.
Chute, pump and buggy, vibrators, screeding, the finishing order step by step, bleed water, bull float, edging, power troweling and broom finish.
Why concrete cracks, control joint spacing, sawcut depth and timing, isolation and construction joints, curing, hot and cold weather, sealers.
The number 27, cubic yards for slabs, footings, piers, round work and stairs, waste factor, rebar and mesh takeoffs, and exam fractions.
Scaling, dusting, crazing, curling, honeycombing and pop-outs, cement burns and silica, trenches and pumps, the 25 numbers to know and the last two weeks.
At the end of the book: The 25 numbers to know by heart and a study plan for the last two weeks before the exam.
Exam-style questions on every chapter, each answer explained with the page to go back to, so you know what's solid and what to review.
The most frequent errors on the slab, drawn side by side with the right way, from troweling too early to joints cut too late.
📄 This is a digital PDF book sent to your email: nothing is printed or shipped.
PDF by email: We email you Concrete Contractor Illustrated as a PDF, together with the two free books. It's a single payment: no installments, no extra charges.
What you already do with your hands, put into the words and numbers the exam uses, one topic per page and always in the same order.
The 25 numbers to know, the cubic yard math solved step by step and a plan for the last two weeks, all easy to find at a glance.
A printed reference for the truck: cover, laps, joint spacing and takeoffs on one page each, to check before a pour or to show your crew.
📄 This is a digital PDF book sent to your email: nothing is printed or shipped.
Try Concrete Contractor Illustrated for 30 days, bonus books included.
We refund everything if the file won't open, if the book isn't what you see here, if you were charged twice or if the email doesn't arrive. Just email us.
You pay once. No subscriptions.
Yes. It doesn't teach you to finish concrete: you already do that. It takes what you know on the slab and puts it into the terms and numbers the exam uses: cover, laps, Proctor, ticket limits, tolerances, cubic yards. It goes in order, so you skim what you know and slow down where the exam wording trips you up.
It's built on ACI 318, ACI 302.1R, 305R, 306R, 308R and 117, ASTM C94, C143, C31, C39 and C231, and the IRC chapters on foundations and slabs, checked against the current published editions. Each state picks its own reference books and editions, so open your candidate bulletin and compare its list with these sources before you buy.
No. It's independent study material. It doesn't give you a certificate, a license or course hours, and it isn't affiliated with or endorsed by the CSLB, any state licensing board, ACI, ASTM, ICC, NASCLA, PSI or OSHA.
No. It's a review of the technical trade section, made to study alongside your course or on your own. It doesn't cover the Law & Business exam.
No. They are exam-style questions written for this book, each with the answer explained and the page to go back to. They are not official exam questions.
As a PDF by email, to the address you enter at checkout. The 2 bonus books come the same way.
No. It's a one-time payment. No subscription.
Yes. The PDF is made to print at home or at a print shop, so you can keep it in the truck and write on it.
You have 30 days. We refund everything if the file won't open, if the book isn't what you see on this page, if you were charged twice or if the email doesn't arrive: just email us.
No more rereading with nothing sticking.
Subgrade, subbase and base: you see them drawn, and you've got it.
You walk into the exam knowing where everything is.
Drawings make studying faster.
The book is right below.
One-time payment: US$ 27 · Guarantee: 30 days · PDF by email
YES, I WANT CONCRETE CONTRACTOR ILLUSTRATED FOR US$ 27📄 This is a digital PDF book sent to your email: nothing is printed or shipped.
