TL;DR
Compressive strength is the load concrete can resist before crushing, expressed in pounds per square inch (PSI) at 28 days of curing. Residential work typically specifies 2,500 to 4,000 PSI, with the IRC requiring at least 3,000 PSI for garage slabs and exterior flatwork in severe freeze-thaw climates, usually with air entrainment.
What it means
Compressive strength is the load concrete can resist before crushing, expressed in pounds per square inch (PSI) at 28 days of curing. Residential work typically specifies 2,500 to 4,000 PSI, with the IRC requiring at least 3,000 PSI for garage slabs and exterior flatwork in severe freeze-thaw climates, usually with air entrainment. The figure appears on the ready-mix delivery ticket, and on engineered projects cylinder breaks at 7 and 28 days verify the plant delivered what the design ordered.
Where it sits in the glossary
Compressive strength is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
License: CC-BY-4.0 — quote freely with attribution to ProFix Editorial Team / ProFix Directory.