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Minecraft: How to make concrete

A guide to making Concrete Blocks in Minecraft.

Minecraft: How to make concrete
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With its blocky appearance, Minecraft clearly indicates it wants players to put things together. This essentially becomes the main goal as you decide what you want to build and just how big you want to make it. You can build the smallest houses or choose the biggest castles in Minecraft. The challenge comes from the environment layout as well as the materials available to you. Since zombies, skeletons, and creepers roam freely hoping to destroy whatever you've made, you need to select your building materials carefully. You have many options, but a classic and reliable one is Concrete, which you can use for a variety of purposes.

Concrete is an artificial material in Minecraft, and it's very unlikely that you're going to find any naturally occurring in nature. In terms of block ranking, it's a good material early on since it’s a harder alternative to stone. However, its main drawback is an increased vulnerability to explosions, so expect creepers to level a concrete structure relatively quickly. Still, its main strength comes from the fact it can be coloured in 1 of 16 different dyes. This makes it the perfect block for decorating your base or trying to create a masterpiece of colourful blocks. Before you can do this though, you need to get your hands on some.

How to make Concrete in Minecraft

Minecraft concrete blocks

Many block types are distinct, but in its base form, Concrete is quite dull. It appears as an ordinary grey block with no texture or defining features. Even when you apply a dye to it, it still retains a clean and flat surface. Whenever you find Concrete blocks, they can be broken down with a Wooden Pickaxe relatively quickly. You can also break it with your hands, but it won't produce a Concrete block for you to collect. It's uncommon to find naturally occurring Concrete, so it's best to just make your own.

To do that, you need to find Concrete Powder. This is one of the block types affected by gravity similar to Sand blocks. Simply put, removing the block beneath the Concrete Powder will cause it to fall down and fill the space. There are two ways you can obtain Concrete Powder: by crafting or digging it up. For the former method, you need to gather Sand and Gravel and combine them. One of each will produce one block of Concrete Powder and you can even add dye to the crafting combination to alter its colour. If you decide to find some, your best bet is to look for places where Sand and Gravel gather. When you do, use a Shovel to dig it up and add it to your inventory.

Once you have Concrete Powder, you just need to do one more thing: add water. If you have a body of water like a lake or the sea, you can simply drop the Concrete Powder into it and it'll yield a Concrete block. You can also just add water to Concrete Powder by pouring it from a bucket. Finally, take your Pickaxe and break the block, and then you'll have a piece of Concrete.

You can also learn how to create and use lecterns in Minecraft, and here is a recipe to craft and use Grind Stone in case you need that.

Will Quick
Will Quick
Will Quick is a travelling writer currently dedicating his time to writing about the games he spends his free time playing. He's always on the lookout for the smaller and stranger of the bunch so he can shine a light on them.