Welcome to the Concrete Podcast—where concrete finishers, engineers, GCs, ready mix producers, researchers, innovators, and DOT officials come together to share real conversations about materials, methods, and the challenges we’re solving across the concrete industry.
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In this episode, Joe Shetterley and Joel Cookston discuss what E5 has called the Concrete Crisis: the growing set of challenges the industry is seeing as materials, mix designs, curing expectations, and field conditions continue to change.
The conversation focuses heavily on Type 1L cement, also known in the industry as Type IL or portland-limestone cement, and how the shift in materials has changed the way concrete behaves in the field.
For Joe and Joel, the goal of this episode is not to say the sky is falling. It is to explain what E5 is seeing through real-world testing, why timing and curing execution matter, and how the industry can use data instead of assumptions to make better decisions.
The discussion centers around E5’s bridge deck mockup, a field-based research project designed to compare Type 1L cement, OPC, traditional curing methods, E5 Internal Cure, and E5 Liquid Fly Ash under real placement conditions.
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One of the biggest themes in this episode is that Type 1L cement has changed the timing of concrete in the field.
Joe explains that the issue is not simply that concrete is broken. Instead, the shift in materials has exposed how much the industry depends on timing, curing execution, and field awareness to achieve durable results.
With OPC, crews often had a larger window of forgiveness. The finishing window was familiar, the bleed timing was more predictable, and traditional curing methods were built around those materials.
With Type 1L, that timing can shift. The finishing window may move forward and become shorter. Bleed rates can change. Surface drying can become more sensitive. That puts more pressure on finishers, contractors, producers, and inspectors to understand what is happening before problems show up.
Joe’s message is clear: the industry does not need more guessing. It needs better data, better timing, and better understanding of how today’s materials perform.
To study the issue directly, E5 built a full bridge deck mockup designed to reflect real field conditions.
The mockup included rebar, bridge finishing equipment, pumping, placement crews, real weather, and multiple curing methods. The goal was to create a head-to-head comparison that looked more like an actual bridge deck placement than a controlled lab-only exercise.
The sections compared traditional OPC and Type 1L cement mixes, along with different curing methods such as wet curing, curing compound, burlap, plastic, and uncovered sections. E5 also tested sections with E5 Internal Cure and a reduced cement mix using E5 Liquid Fly Ash.
By using similar placement methods, finishing tools, and field conditions across the mockup, the study was designed to look at how the materials and curing approaches performed under practical conditions.
The early discussion from the bridge deck mockup points back to one central issue: curing performance is deeply connected to timing, material behavior, and execution.
Joe and Joel discuss how OPC showed a wider grace period with traditional curing methods, while Type 1L appeared to be more sensitive to timing and early moisture conditions. They also discuss how curing compounds can delay moisture loss but may not fully eliminate surface-related issues when timing is off.
When E5 Internal Cure was added to the mixes, the conversation changed. Joe describes the results as helping level the playing field between materials and curing approaches by reducing dependence on perfect field execution.
That does not mean there is a silver bullet. Joe is clear that no single product or method fixes every bad mix, every bad practice, or every field condition. The point is to understand the recipe from start to finish: materials, water, cement, admixtures, curing method, timing, and finishing execution.
A major takeaway from this episode is that finishers still play a critical role.
Joe explains that with Type 1L cement, the biggest adjustment may not be a new tool or a complicated new method. It may be understanding when to start finishing, when to stop finishing, and how the material is behaving in that specific placement.
That matters because the surface is where many of the most visible problems appear. If the timing is off, crews can end up fighting the slab, finishing too early, finishing too late, or trying to compensate for a mix that is not behaving the way they expected.
For E5, the purpose of the Concrete Crisis work is to help reduce that risk. By studying how materials behave in the field and how nano silica technology can support internal curing, E5 is working to help crews, producers, engineers, and DOT officials make better decisions with better information.
Throughout the episode, Joe and Joel return to the same point: the industry needs to look at evidence.
They discuss the importance of head-to-head comparisons, third-party testing, surface analysis, petrography, freeze-thaw data, and field-based research that reflects real placement conditions.
They also make it clear that the Concrete Crisis report is not the end of the conversation. More data is still coming, and E5 plans to continue reviewing long-term results from the mockup.
For DOT officials, engineers, contractors, ready mix producers, and finishers, the value is not just in one test result. The value is in seeing how different materials and curing methods perform when they are compared directly and openly.
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For the Concrete Industry:
Image: Concrete Crisis Bridge Deck Mockup, A field research project by E5 testing Type 1L cement, OPC, curing methods, and nanotechnology.
This episode gives viewers a first look into the Concrete Crisis research, but the conversation is still developing.
E5 is continuing to review the data from the bridge deck mockup, including surface analysis, curing comparisons, and long-term durability indicators. For teams working with Type 1L cement, bridge decks, curing specifications, or concrete durability challenges, this information can help support better conversations in the field and at the specification level.
To learn more, reach out to E5 Nano Silica to request the Concrete Crisis report or schedule a presentation with the team.
The Concrete Crisis is not about pointing fingers. It is about understanding how the industry is changing and what it takes to keep building durable, sustainable, high-performing concrete.
As materials change, the industry has to change with them. That means more testing, more transparency, better communication, and a stronger connection between the people designing the mix, producing it, placing it, finishing it, and inspecting it.
For E5, this episode is part of a larger mission: bring the industry together around real data, real field experience, and practical solutions that help concrete perform better.
The Concrete Podcast unifies the concrete industry by sharing real conversations about the challenges we’re solving together. Subscribe for more episodes featuring the people who design it, produce it, place it, and build with it every day.