Art Meets Concrete

At the crossroads of art and concrete slab construction, decorative concrete floors have emerged as an increasingly popular floor surface. Whether used in the home, commercial space, or industrial warehouse, decorative concrete floors are providing superior performance with virtually limitless colors and patterns.

Some of the current methods for producing decorative floors include stamping, staining, coloring, texturing, painting, rolling, stenciling, and more. Procedures are limited only by the creativity of the owner and installer. Nevertheless, by examining some of the more common techniques, the fundamentals for success can be addressed. Concrete materials must be sound, and the methods for placing the concrete must adhere to traditional practice. In short, if the concrete is not of sufficient quality, surface defects, cracking, or other forms of deterioration will diminish the decorative effort. More.

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Bob Harris’ Guide to Stamped Concrete is a 144-page full-color, fully illustrated, step-by-step guide that provides contractors with detailed information and practical tips to stamping concrete. The author, president of the Decorative Concrete Institute, shows contractors where to find good designs, the five methods of imparting color to stamped concrete work, placing the concrete to facilitate stamping, and the stamping process from A-Z. 2004. Click here for more information or to purchase.

Free Registration to World of Concrete

World of Concrete/World of Masonry will be held in Las Vegas from January 17-20, 2006. Seminars begin on January 16th. The largest show for the concrete industry features 1,600 exhibitors, 1.3 million square feet of demonstration space, and more than 125 seminars and conference sessions.
Click here for free registration and discounts on seminar fees.

For a complete listing of conferences, click here.

What is the difference between European and ASTM cement specifications and where can I order foreign standards?

In some instances, projects in the United States designed by engineering firms from other countries refer to cement standards other than those in ASTM or AASHTO. There is no direct equivalency between ASTM and other cement standards of the world because of differences in test methods and limits on required properties. Therefore, the best approach is to inform the designer as to what cements are locally available and ask for a change in the project specifications to allow use of an ASTM or AASHTO cement. More.

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Freeze-Thaw Site Addresses Scaling

With winter approaching, it is time to think about the extra precautions required for concrete in cold and wet weather. PCA has launched a new freeze-thaw section of the its durability Web site for insights on mechanisms that lead to scaling. It also includes recommendations and resources to improve concrete's resistance to freezing and deicers.

Click here for freeze-thaw Web page.

Click here for the durability site.

Cement Thesaurus Now Online

The PCA Cement and Concrete Thesaurus, a list of accepted terminology for all aspects of cement and concrete ensures that authors of research reports, database compilers, and others use consistent terminology when documenting or indexing the materia, so that end users can retrieve needed information more efficiently.

The Thesaurus was first compiled by PCA staff in the 1960s and revised in 1982. With the introduction of computerized library software in the early 1990s, it became possible to reexamine and update the Thesaurus more efficiently, allowing the addition of hundreds of new terms and other changes as new materials have been cataloged. More.

Concrete Technology Forum Focuses on Pervious Concrete

The National Ready Mixed Concrete Association is sponsoring the 2006 Concrete Technology Forum: Focus on Pervious Concrete, scheduled for May 24-25, 2006, in Nashville, Tenn. The forum will bring researchers and practitioners together to discuss the latest advances, technical knowledge, continuing research, tools, and solutions for pervious concrete.

Researchers and practitioners are encouraged to submit abstracts which are due Friday, November 18, 2005. More.