Letter from the President: Greetings from the new Pres!
Greetings, CFA Members and readers of Concrete Facts! I would like to introduce myself to all of you who may not know me. I am Phillip Marone, President of Marone Contractors and affiliated companies. I am honored to have been selected by our Board too represent all of you as the next association President. Our […]
Tricks of the Trade – “Winter Scaffold Brackets”
This issue’s Tricks of the Trade is shared by a CFA board member in the spirit of continuing to share great ideas and to challenge you, the reader, to consider the ways you overcome annoying details and situations to be more effective and economical in your work. If you are from an active CFA member […]
Increase Profits by Creating Systems in Your Company
Let me ask you a personal question. When you wake up in the morning and you get ready for work, do you always do things in the same order? Here’s what I mean: When I wake up on a weekday, I do the same tasks in the same order, every time. I first grab my […]
Dealing With the Reactivity of Aluminum Forms and Concrete
By Destry Kenning, Forming Market Segment Manager, Nox-Crete Products Group Part 1 of a 4-Part Series Anyone who has placed concrete against new or older reconditioned and not properly seasoned aluminum forms is most likely familiar with the veins or worm-like trails that form in the resulting concrete, and also familiar with the excessive […]
Letter from the Director – It’s Convention Time!
IT’S CONVENTION TIME! The flurry of emails, the flashy new mailer, the social media blitz and even the new App signal that it is Convention time. In actuality, it is never not Convention time around this office. Convention is what we think about all year long. We begin planning next year’s event even before we […]
Letter from the President: Times, They Are A Changin’
I have attended meeting after meeting over the last few years and the two things I hear most often are: How different all of our markets are How much effort employers spend making their office more efficient Everyone’s market, no the matter location, is essentially the same. The real difference lies in the portion of […]
Safety Really Is Job #1
by Levi Schrock, chair of CFA Safety Committee Throughout the years, safety has been a subject of conversation at the CFA. We confess, however, that it has usually been brought up as a reaction to a hot topic posed by OSHA. Today, we hope to be advanced enough in our thinking to be talking about […]
Tricks of the Trade: “Droopy Tie Syndrome”
from Dennis Purinton, Purinton Builders, East Granby, Conn. This issue’s Tricks of the Trade is shared by a CFA member (the current president) in the spirit of continuing to share great ideas and to challenge you, the reader, to consider the ways you overcome annoying details and situations to be more effective and economical […]
Twisted Steel Micro-Rebar in Load-Carrying Concrete Walls
by Samhar Hoz, Jeff Novak, Luke Pinkerton Concrete walls are widely used in building construction. Concrete is strong in compression; however, its tensile strength is only 8 to 15 percent of the compressive strength. Thus, plain concrete does not have good tensile properties. Cracks can develop due to loads, restrained shrinkage, or temperature changes […]
3 Tips from a Seasoned Concrete Contractor
Follow these ideas to become a more profitable contractor. In the Farmers Insurance commercials, the tagline is: “We know a thing or two, because we’ve seen a thing or two.” I feel the same way about the concrete construction industry. I’ve seen a lot of changes in the industry, as well as noticing that […]