Throwback Thursday: What does smell of wet concrete do for/to you? #TBT

[#1]

It's Thursday!

I know, I know! You guys are gonna think KGM is off his rocker now (which is true btw) but we had some concrete job done in our backyard few weeks back. I went outside regularly during the pour in order to see if they needed anything, try to help, and just because I was excited to watch the progress. Well, that smell of wet concrete just hit my nostrils with quite the force when I was cleaning splatters off the vinyl fence. And it hit my memory even harder! I used to work for my dad´s company in the early 80´s. We were building an office building and inventory house behind it. Everything concrete and, among other things, I had to clean the dried concrete off the wood and clean out the nails. 

Soooo, what does smell of wet concrete do for/to you?

Let’s make it a great Thursday!

KGM  

[Andy Gladstone]

@Kristján Geir Mathiesen growing up in the suburbs in New York there were always sidewalks being repaired and driveways being poured. The smell always drew me outside wanting to take a stick to put my initials in the concrete before it set. Alas, my parents set healthy boundaries for me and my brothers and would never allow us to 'tag' someone else's sidewalk or driveway. We never had the concrete pour on our own property, so the only place (public or private) that my initials exist are on a bench in Central Park where I carved them in 1995 when dating my then girlfriend/now wife!

[Dan Breyen]

Hmm... The smell of wet concrete.   What an interesting conversation that I'm pretty confident the developers of the community at Atlassian never would have dreamed up:  "Hey everyone, we got this idea for a community forum that our users can use to discuss wet concrete!" :)

So first, I need to take a minute to breathe it in.....  choke, choke, cough, cough....  OK, ready.

I s'pose if you work with it all day, it's no big deal, but for some of us, we only experience it a few times each year.  I have a concrete project coming up at home, I'll have to give a first hand account and update this thread.

[Kristján Geir Mathiesen]

Thanks for sharing, @Andy Gladstone  We had a small drive way poured for our mobile home that we had while going to college and we put our sons handprint in it :)

 @Dan Breyen ...

This is, however, my 120th #TBT post and one does eventually, probably run out of topics so...  :) 

[Dreamsuite Mike]

Next in this unique #TBT series...What is your favourite colour paint to watch dry?  😂😂

Just kidding...

The smell of concrete reminds me of multi-story parking lots in Penang, Malaysia.  Its not wet but its very 'concretey'.

Opening up the conversation.  Smells can evoke really strong memories, when you smell certain things you can be taken all the way back to childhood....

[Kristján Geir Mathiesen]

Hahaha, @Dreamsuite Mike , good one :)  Hopefully I will get some good inspirations before it gets to that. Too funny!

[Randy O'Neal]

Wow... I truly despise the smell of fresh, wet concrete.  It vividly reminds me of one of the toughest summers of my youth.  My Dad - ever the DIY guy - ordered 33 cubic yards of concrete one hot summer day to pour the floor of a 2 1/2-car garage, a multi-tiered back patio, sidewalks surrounding the garage, a garage apron, and what was supposed to be a small-ish basketball court/trailer parking pad.  The concrete started showing up around 7:30 am and - from what I remember - didn't end until around 10 -12 hours later.  As the sun was setting and the concrete was in its final form, my cat decided it was time to walk into the garage and head to the door to be let in.  His actions are forever captured in the concrete on the right side of the floor of the garage.

I was 11 or 12 at the time... and I'll never forget working that stuff into the rebar in the forms, floating the stuff into place, and watching the sheer exasperation of my Dad when my cat strutted his stuff across the finished product.  God help me... I hate the stuff.

[Kristján Geir Mathiesen]

Sorry to hear that, @Randy O'Neal . I have some coupons for therapy sessions if you want...  (I don't, just trying to reduce the PTSD affect here). That must have been such a hard work!

[Randy O'Neal]

Just to be clear... that event I relayed occurred more than 53 years ago (or more)... I'm not looking for sympathy, just replying to the question.  Thanks for the offer, @Kristján Geir Mathiesen , it's just an old memory... a surprisingly strong one.

Dad felt so bad about the work that he bought my brother and I brand new 10-speed Schwinn bikes and flew us out to our grandparents for a couple weeks... so I've been more than compensated, lol...

[Laurie Sciutti]

I gotta say, this post and comments gave me a few chuckles.  Nothing for me to add as I don't have many memories tied to the smell of wet concrete (if any) but thank you for the laugh and happy Thursday everyone!   

[Benjamin]

Thanks for the Post.

I don't know if I ever recall a smell. Definitely, notice the smell of a freshly re-pave street which is not great.

I do enjoy a newly done clean sidewalk and drive way. Also, enjoy that look after power washing.

[Kristján Geir Mathiesen]

Nah all good, @Randy O'Neal But I just wanted to be on the safe side :) What a story you have!

[Summer Hogan]

These are some of the funniest comments I've seen in a TBT post in a while @Kristján Geir Mathiesen! I can't say I like the smell of wet concrete nor have I been around it much. I do live in a concrete desert though if that counts!

[Ram Kumar Aravindakshan _Adaptavist_]

I can remember when I was 12, we had a science project with volcanos.... so most of the students brought the volcanos made from Playdos. But at that time, my house was under renovation, and I asked the contractor to build one for me using concrete. So I was the only one who brought an unbreakable volcano made from concrete.

[Kristján Geir Mathiesen]

So glad this post brought a smile to your face, @Summer Hogan  Love it! Have a great Friday.

[Dan Breyen]

In case anyone is wondering, or has never experienced the smell of wet concrete, here's your chance for that DIY project complements of Bob Villa:

how-to-pour-concrete 

I hope there's is a youtube video for the watching paint dry question.

[Teodora V _Fun Inc_]

Oh goodness, @Kristján Geir Mathiesen, the smell of wet concrete makes me think about all the things I want to do but I am not allowed because of the social norms of grown-up behavior 😆