The CFA Committees and Board of Directors met for a full day on October 17 in Richmond, Virginia. Below is a summary of some of the more important discussions and actions from the meetings.

Structural Task Group

The board authorized the establishment of a Structural Task Group to research, study, and review current trends toward more conservative designs and to propose analysis, testing, and other actions that might help establish adequacy of the designs and construction methods that have proven effective for the past several decades. The plan of action, as identified by Executive Director Ed Sauter, would be to 1) Determine the extend and nature of current basement wall failures; 2) Research what testing and engineering has already been performed; 3) Determine design assumptions and perform engineering analysis on existing and new designs; and, 4) Propose testing, if necessary, to validate or confirm design assumptions and calculations.

Several engineers and contractors have agreed to serve on this task group. A survey of CFA members regarding their experience of failures will be the first task.

Codes and Standards

The CFA Standard, under development for the past two years, was approved with minor comment from the board. Following an editorial review, the document will be ready for publication. The format of the document follows the format of the IRC for easy correlation of the two documents. Copies will mailed out before the World of Concrete and the WOC will be the official unveiling of the document.

World of Concrete

The CFA and Concrete Homes Council will again share booth space, #2537, this year at the World of Concrete show in Las Vegas. The CFA, CHC and the Tilt-Up Concrete Association will share a 20’x 30’ island booth – the largest amount of space ever occupied since the show has been held. Voting for the “Basement of the Year” will again be held in the booth. A seating area for members to visit will also be featured.

Education

The Board gave a top priority rating to the CFA Education initiative for 2003. Management will begin the development of a series of educational modules based on the Foundation Fundamentals seminars that can be used for inhouse training, formal presentations, or self study. The modules will be on a CD basis and will include video footage, text, and multi-media presentations. The first step is to have a transcript made of the seminar. A script will be developed once the transcript has been made.

Concrete Homes Magazine

The CFA directory was recently published in Concrete Homes Magazine along with several articles about the CFA, CHC and concrete homes and basements. CFA has plenty of copies left. If you need additional copies, contact the CFA.

Summer Meetings

The summer meeting at Mount Hood was reviewed. It was thought to be an excellent program but there were suggestions for improvement. Most of the sessions were too short with too little time for questions or interaction. Next summer will feature longer lecture periods. Topics suggested included another presentation on mold (perhaps mold mitigation – and litigation), a management presentation by Doug Staebler, and a presentation on technology or the CFA Standard.

The round table format used for several years was also suggested as a means of delivery for one of the days. The smaller sessions make questions and participation easier. Some form of smaller sessions will be included in next summer’s meeting. Topics suggested for the round tables included safety programs, concrete decks, insulation systems for concrete walls, accountability, material and equipment acquisition, and job change orders.

The half day of education on above grade homes was very well attended. It will be retained for next year’s program.

A bus trip to the concrete beach homes under construction by CFA member Curt Fields will be scheduled for next summer’s meeting if possible.

Note: Any member of the CFA is welcome to participate in the CFA committee meetings. The committee meetings are where ideas, initiatives, and actions are developed to present to the board. The committees typically meet the morning of the board meetings. Plenty of networking also occurs during these meetings. Contact Ed Sauter or Jim Baty at CFA if you are interested.