Construction Equipment Owner

Need a break from the local radio stations that play the same 17 songs over and over every day? Or maybe the average books-on-tape don’t offer you the concrete enrichment you always hoped for. Well, you’re in luck. The American Concrete Institute (ACI) recently introduced the availability of an audio version of the third edition of The Contractor’s Guide to Quality Concrete Construction.

Topics covered in The Contractor’s Guide to Quality Concrete Construction include:

• Organizing for quality
• Concrete mixture proportioning
• Specifications
• Foundations
• Formwork
• Reinforcement and embedments in structures
• Joints and reinforcement for slabs-on-ground
• Preparing for concreting
• Concrete placing and finishing
• Common field problems
• Safety

The audio version is available on a set of six CDs or in MP3 format and is accompanied by a printed supplement containing figures, tables, and checklists from the hard copy document. Click below to listen to a sample of the audio book, ”Chapter 5, Formwork.”

Purchase The Contractor’s Guide to Quality Concrete Construction through the ACI bookstore for $68.50 or $38 for ACI members.

Chapter 5 — Formwork, from “The Contractor’s Guide to Quality Concrete Construction”

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Of course you do! But in order to take home the Wacker Neuson special edition CRT 48-35VX ride-on concrete trowel pictured here, you have to prove your skills on the slab during the 2010 Trowel Challenge, which takes place at the World of Concrete, Feb. 2-5 in Las Vegas. Find out how to enter the challenge at the Trowel Challenge blog (look for the section along the right-hand side of the blog web page that says “Register Now”). Good luck!

The World of Concrete 2010 is quickly approaching, and Wacker Neuson Corporation wants to give one lucky winner the opportunity to attend the show for free. Their drawing for round-trip tickets for two and a four-night hotel stay during the show will take place on Friday, January 8. Visit trowelchallenge.com and click on the “Register Now” link in the right-hand column. The deadline to enter is 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, January 7.

The Las Vegas trip prize package is part of Wacker Neuson’s Concrete Trowel Challenge, which takes place during the World of Concrete in Las Vegas, Feb. 2-5. Contractors entered into the challenge will have the opportunity to prove their concrete troweling skills on a 2,000-square-foot concrete slab at Wacker Neuson’s outdoor booth. The grand prize winner will take home a customized Wacker Neuson CRT 48-35VX ride-on concrete trowel. Learn more about the Concrete Trowel Challenge and sign up to compete at trowelchallenge.com.

My idea of excitement includes a canoe and a slow river, or cross-country skiing on flat terrain. Pretty much the exact opposite of excitement for people who partake in BASE jumping, a sport where people parachute off fixed objects. But just in case you’re looking for inspiration to create a little excitement of your own, read this article about this Bridge Day celebration in West Virginia and how ALL Crane Equipment & Rental Corp. helped a group of adrenaline junkies get their fix. There’s even a You Tube video!

Each year, Concrete Contractor magazine chooses its list of Top Products for the concrete industry. Results are tabulated by reader interest generated by products that run in each issue. Have you seen the list of products this year? Lots of people have been interested in the results, including the folks at HGTVpro.com. Check out the article they posted on their website about the Top Products winners.

Today marks the first ever World Green Building Day. The declaration was made by the World Green Building Council in an effort to bring together green building councils from around the world. In honor of the day, I put together a list of a few “building green with concrete” links for you to peruse:

• The U.S. Green Building Council
• The Portland Cement Association’s (PCA) ConcreteThinker.com
• Green buildings case studies from the Portland Cement Association (PCA)
• The Sustainability page from the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA)

And here are some articles from the pages of Concrete Contractor that look at building green with concrete:

• “Pervious Concrete: How to Place and Cure”
• “The Cincinnati Zoo Focuses on Improving Its Environmental Impact”
• “Go White to Go Green”
• “Going Green in the Residential Market”
• “Taking a ‘LEED’ in Wisconsin”
• “Making Greener Choices”

The term “industrial design” is something I never thought much about until the summer of 2009. That’s when I attended the graduation ceremonies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and listened to a few highly influential commencement speakers including Renzo Piano — the Italian architect who designed the Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago. The speaker who captured my interest the most, however, was industrial designer Charles A. Harrison II. Mr. Harrison designed lawn mowers, sewing machines and garbage cans during his career at Sears, Roebuck and Company. He also redesigned the View-Master – the childhood toy EVERYONE has fond memories of.

Having a hand in the View-Master is pretty cool. But it’s easy to skim over the importance of lawn mowers and garbage cans and how Mr. Harrison’s visions touch people’s lives. One image from a slideshow of Mr. Harrison’s designs that really stuck out for me was a photo of a Sears-brand riding lawnmower. I could instantly see my grandpa riding that mower on a cool summer evening. And maybe my sewing machine and garbage can were designed by Mr. Harrison, or derived from one of his designs. It’s fascinating to think about an industrial designer’s ability to make everyday, utilitarian tools look good.

All these thoughts I had after hearing Mr. Harrison speak in May came rushing back to me when I saw the press release announcing Doosan Infracore’s Best of the Best Award at the 2009 RedDot Design Award Show for the futuristic concept excavator “CX.” Looking at the image gives you a sneak peek at the future — an idea of what your construction site might look like in 10 or 20 years. And it feels good to know there are talented people out there designing our everyday tools with a little inspiration and style.

Working in the construction industry, I see projects of all sizes — from backyard patios to multi-story buildings. Recently I’ve been keeping an eye on a particular project that is just huge, and the imagery is out of this world (the image here is from The Hoover Dam Bypass Project Web site). It’s the Hoover Dam bypass bridge, formally known as the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. The bridge will shuffle traffic over the Arizona-Nevada border, 890 feet above the Colorado River. When complete, it will be the largest concrete arch in North America. If you’re a concrete nut, the project is worth checking out.

The Las Vegas Sun covers the bridge construction closely, with great imagery. And with another concrete marvel  — the Hoover Dam – less than a half-mile upstream, the area is a true concrete mecca.

On July 16, 1867, F. Joseph Monier patented reinforced concrete. The idea came to him while trying to design a concrete flower pot. Read the whole story at Wired magazine.

 Concrete’s contributions to sustainable construction are many — pervious concrete, insulated walls, low-albedo values, supplementary cementicious materials (SMCs), recycling opportunities, and more – but many people continue to focus on concrete’s negative affects on the environment, namely carbon dioxide emissions from cement production. The industry has been working on sustainable manufacturing and increasing the use of cement substitutes like fly ash and slag, which lessen the amount of cement needed in concrete production. And scientists have recently found another cement substitute that’s carbon neutral — rice husks. The Discover Channel reports that rice husk ash could replace up to 20 percent of the cement in a concrete mix.