Concrete and masonry words, explained
The calculators on this site use the words ready-mix plants, masons and building inspectors use. If a label stops you, the meaning is probably below — one line each, in plain English, with a link to where the word matters.
Buying and mixing concrete
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Cement | The grey powder binder (usually portland cement) that hardens when it reacts with water. One ingredient of concrete, not the same thing. |
| Concrete | Cement, sand, gravel and water. What slabs, footings and posts are made of. |
| Concrete mix | Bagged concrete with the cement, sand and gravel already blended — just add water. |
| Ready-mix | Concrete batched at a plant and delivered in a truck mixer, ordered by the cubic yard or cubic metre. |
| Cubic yard (yd³) | 27 cubic feet — a 3 ft cube. Ready-mix is sold by it. One yard covers 81 sq ft at 4 in thick. |
| Yield | How much concrete a bag makes once mixed: about 0.6 cu ft for an 80 lb bag of Quikrete Concrete Mix. |
| Short load | A ready-mix order below the plant’s normal minimum, often with an extra fee. |
| Slump | How runny fresh concrete is, measured by how far a cone of it sags. NRMCA notes 3–5 in suits most work. |
| psi | Pounds per square inch — the unit for concrete strength. Bagged mixes are typically rated 4,000 or 5,000 psi at 28 days. |
| Air entrainment | Tiny bubbles deliberately mixed into concrete so it resists freeze-thaw damage. |
In numbers: how many 80 lb bags of concrete in a yard and how many square feet a yard of concrete covers.
Placing and finishing
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Forms | The boards or tubes that hold wet concrete in shape until it hardens. |
| Base / sub-base | The compacted gravel layer under a slab. |
| Screed | To strike concrete off level with the forms using a straight board — or the board itself. |
| Bull float / hand float | Flat tools that smooth the surface and push stones down right after screeding. |
| Bleed water | Water that rises to the surface of fresh concrete. Finish only after it has gone. |
| Edger | A tool that rounds the slab’s edges so they don’t chip. |
| Control joint | A groove cut into a slab so shrinkage cracks follow a straight line. Quikrete suggests about 1 in deep every 6–8 ft for its mix. |
| Cold joint | A weak seam where fresh concrete meets concrete that had already begun to set. |
| Curing | Keeping new concrete damp and above about 50 °F so it gains strength — 5–7 days per Quikrete. |
| Thickened edge | A slab edge poured deeper than the slab, acting as a built-in footing. |
The steps in order are on how to pour a concrete slab. Two shapes that use the same words: how much concrete for 3 steps and how much concrete for curb and gutter.
Footings and reinforcement
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Footing (footer) | The wide concrete base that spreads a wall’s or post’s load into the soil. Its size and depth come from code and plans. |
| Frost line | How deep the ground freezes locally. Footings usually have to go below it. |
| Pier | A column of concrete under a post or beam, often poured in a tube form. |
| Sonotube / tube form | A round fiber form for piers and columns, in diameters from 6 to 36 in. |
| Rebar | Steel reinforcing bar. The number is the diameter in eighths of an inch up to #8 (#4 = ½ in). |
| Welded wire mesh | A grid of steel wire, such as 6×6 W1.4/W1.4, sold in sheets and rolls. |
| Chair | A small stand that holds rebar or mesh up inside the slab. |
| Lap / splice | Where two bars overlap to continue a run. The lap length is set by the design. |
| Cover | The concrete between the steel and the surface, which protects the steel from rust. |
See how much concrete for a 12×12 footer, how many bags of concrete for a 12 inch Sonotube and how much does #4 rebar weigh per foot.
Block, brick and mortar
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| CMU | Concrete masonry unit — a concrete block (often called a cinder block). |
| Nominal size | The size a block or brick is sold as, including a ⅜ in joint. An 8×8×16 block is really 7⅝ × 7⅝ × 15⅝ in. |
| Course | One horizontal row of blocks or bricks. Block courses are 8 in high with the joint. |
| Wythe | One vertical layer of masonry, one unit thick. |
| Bed joint / head joint | The horizontal mortar joint under a unit / the vertical joint between units. |
| Running bond | The standard pattern where each course is offset half a unit from the one below. |
| Face-shell bedding | Mortar on the outer shells of hollow block only, not the cross-webs. |
| Grout | Fluid cement mix poured into block cores, often around rebar. Not the same as tile grout. |
| Bond beam | A course of channel-shaped blocks filled with grout and horizontal steel. |
| Modular brick | Brick sized to a 4 in grid with ⅜ in joints: 3⅝ × 2¼ × 7⅝ in, 6.75 per sq ft. |
| Type N / Type S | Mortar types from ASTM C270: N for general work, S stronger. |
| Repointing | Raking out old mortar joints and refilling them. |
In numbers: 8×8×16 block actual size, how many bricks per square foot and how much grout to fill one 8 inch block.
Stucco and veneer
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Stucco | Portland cement plaster applied to walls in coats. |
| Scratch coat | The first coat, scored so the next coat grips — ⅜ in over lath in Quikrete’s guide. |
| Brown coat | The second coat, trued flat — also ⅜ in over lath. |
| Finish coat | The thin top coat (about ⅛ in) that gives colour and texture. |
| Lath | Metal mesh fastened to a framed wall to hold stucco or stone veneer mortar. |
| Weep screed | The trim at the bottom of a stucco or veneer wall that lets water out. |
| Adhered veneer | Thin stone or brick set in mortar on a wall rather than built as a standing wall. |
In numbers: how many square feet does a bag of stucco cover and how much mortar for stone veneer.
- Brick trowelBudget price
Spreads and furrows the mortar bed and butters the ends of each block or brick. A 10–11 in trowel suits most hands.
See options on Amazon (opens in a new tab) - Concrete edger and groover setBudget price
The edger rounds slab edges so they don’t chip; the groover cuts control joints while the concrete is still soft.
See options on Amazon (opens in a new tab) - Rebar chairsBudget price
Hold rebar or mesh off the ground so it ends up inside the concrete, not under it. Match the chair height to where your plans place the steel.
See options on Amazon (opens in a new tab)
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Frequently asked questions
What does 4000 psi concrete mean?
It reaches a compressive strength of 4,000 pounds per square inch at 28 days in a standard test. Quikrete’s standard Concrete Mix is rated at that strength.
What is the difference between a footing and a slab?
A footing is a narrow, deep strip or pad that carries a wall’s or post’s load into the ground; a slab is a broad, flatter pour you walk or drive on. Many slabs have thickened edges that act as footings.
Sources
- Quikrete Concrete Mix (No. 1101) data sheet (opens in a new tab) — Yield, joints, curing.
- NRMCA Concrete in Practice 31 — Ordering Ready Mixed Concrete (opens in a new tab) — Slump and ordering terms.
- CMHA CMU-TEC-001-23 — Concrete masonry unit shapes and sizes (opens in a new tab) — Nominal and specified block sizes.
- Brick Industry Association — Technical Note 10 (opens in a new tab) — Brick sizes and counts.
- Quikrete — Stuccoing project guide (opens in a new tab) — Coat thicknesses over lath.