“Topping Out” Ceremony for the Wilshire Grand’s Concrete Core

After three years of hard work and 744 days since the historic mat pour, the “Wilshire Grand Core and Steel Topping Out” ceremony was celebrated on March 8, 2016.   Workers from the construction project’s manager, Turner Construction, The Conco Companies and officials from the project’s architect, AC Martin Partners, representatives from the project’s owner’s, Korean Air, and others were on-hand to celebrate the event. 

The ceremony consisted of lifting the last steel beam into place, which had been signed by all of the workers, owners and a group of dignitaries.  The beam, weighing 2,100 pounds and 35 feet long, had been trucked in from Eloy, Arizona.  In following with the tradition, a U.S. flag and tree was placed on top of the beam.  The tradition of holding a topping out ceremony began as a religious rite that is traced back to ancient Scandinavia.  The practice of placing a tree on top of a newly finished building was done to appease tree-dwelling spirits that had been displaced during the construction.  

Chris Martin, the lead architect on the project, noted there is still much work to do on the project.  However, he added that they would be here again next year on March 8, 2017 in another ceremony to celebrate the completion of the building.  This date is not just coincidental, but the birthday of Yang Ho Cho, chairman of Hanjin International Corp, which owns Korean Air.

The completion of the 73-story concrete core signifies a major achievement in the project.  At 892-ft. high, the concrete core required 32,000 cubic yards of concrete and 50 million pounds of rebar to construct.  When finished, the Wilshire Grand will be the tallest building in the U.S. west of the Mississippi River.   

The Conco Companies’ goal is to be the best supplier of commercial concrete services for the Western U.S.  We bring our extensive expertise and professionalism to each project and continue to upgrade and expand facilities to better serve the growing market.  Before you start your next project, please contact us for more information about our trusted commercial concrete services.

Source: latimes.com/local/california/la-me-adv-wilshire-grand-topping-out-20160313-story.html

Looking for Professional Concrete Pumping?

The Conco Companies make it easy to get the highest quality concrete pumping services for your construction job.  We have a fleet of state-of-the-art concrete pumping equipment located throughout the West Coast that is ready to provide you with first-class services from one of the nation’s top commercial concrete contractors.  

To get quick access to our entire inventory of concrete pumps as well as to order one for your project, the easiest method may be to use our Android or iOS app.  Once on the app, you will find detailed descriptions, diagrams, specifications and instructions for ordering.  Make sure you chose the geographic location closest to you in order to get the selection of concrete pumps that are available for your area.  If you do not want to bother with the app, you can give our district offices a call at the following numbers: Northern California (925) 687-6040, Southern California (909) 350-0503, and Washington (425) 282-6378.

If your job requires the use of a boom truck, we need to know a couple of facts to ensure the safety of all involved as well as to get the job done most cost-effectively.  The type of information we need is on our website or you will find it on our apps.  Questions include what size boom does the job require and are there any overhead obstructions, power lines or trees at or surrounding the jobsite? Furthermore, how good is the access to the jobsite, and is there stable ground to set up the pump and to accommodate the outriggers? 

This is an efficient way to take advantage of our vast experience in placing concrete even under the most challenging circumstances and to have an experienced team of skilled operators do the job.  Contact us for more information. 

The Conco Companies are one of the foremost suppliers of concrete services for the Western U.S. We got our start in 1959 in the Bay Area by offering clients the best value on a broad range of concrete services and products.  Since that time, we have taken a leading role as top concrete contractors in the region. We have four regional offices serving California, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado and Washington.

Mesopotamia’s Mud-Brick Building Material

Archaeological evidence indicates that some of the very earliest large-scale buildings were in ancient Mesopotamia; however, in many cases, the only thing that has survived is traces of their foundations.  We have better examples of the impressive buildings constructed by the later civilizations of Mesopotamia, Persia and the rest of the ancient Near East of which some of them remains partially intact. 

Since wood was scarce in the area and the climate is extremely dry and hot, the most common building material was brick formed from mud.  The bricks were easy to make as well as to use and varied from small hand-sized bricks to large slabs used for paving.  They were made from mud or clay from the river, and then mixed with sand or chopped straw to provide additional strength.  Once formed the bricks were laid in a wide variety of elaborate and sophisticated patterns. 

Although the earliest bricks were shaped by hand, Wikipedia states by 3500 BC, “fired bricks came into use and surviving records show a very complex division of labor into separate tasks and trades.”  The fired bricks were used to build walls and also used with stone to make pavement.  Sometime around 2700 BC, rectangular wooden molds were introduced that produced bricks twice as long as they were wide.  In addition during that same period the Mesopotamians started producing plano-convex bricks, which have flat bottoms and sides but tops that curve out to form a convex surface.  The plano-convex bricks were used to construct walls of buildings, which had the convex side on the exterior wall of the structure.  This type of brick lost its popularity sometime around 2400 BC and bricks makers started to make every surface a flat plane.   

The Conco Companies are one of the foremost suppliers of concrete services for the Western U.S. We got our start in 1959 in the Bay Area by offering clients the best value on a broad range of concrete services and products.  Since that time, we have taken a leading role as top concrete contractors in the region. We have four regional offices serving California, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado and Washington.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_construction, fofweb.com/

Ready-mixed Concrete

While concrete is produced in several different forms, ready-mixed concrete is the most common.  In fact the Portland Cement Association (PCA) states that almost seventy-five percent of concrete is used as a ready-mixed form.  Referred to as RMC, the concrete is batched at a factory or batching plant rather than mixed at the jobsite.  This provides the advantage of producing precise concrete mixes as well as reducing congestion at the jobsite.  The first concrete mixing plants were built in the 1930s.

Each batch of RMC is mixed according to an exact recipe as designated by the contractor to meet the project specifications.  Once the concrete is mixed, it is quickly transported to the job site in concrete mixing trucks.   If the material is mixed during the trip to the jobsite, it is call transit-mixed or truck-mixed.  Sometimes it is partially mixed in-transit and the process completed once it reaches the placement site. 

Often with transit-mixed concrete, the water is kept separate from the cement and aggregate until it is fully mixed right before placement.  According to the Portland Cement Association, the reason behind this approach is “to avoid the problems of premature hardening and slump loss that result from potential delays in transportation or placement of central-mixed concrete.”  Also transit-mixing can be used for those times when the jobsite is a distance from the batching plant. 

The disadvantage to transit-mixing is that the cement mixer cannot carry as large of a load of concrete as it can if the concrete is already completely mixed.  Shrink-mixed concrete, which is the process of partially mixing the concrete at the plant, reduces the volume of the mixture and increases the capacity of the load.  The rest of the mixing is done during transit or at the jobsite.

The Conco Companies are a leading supplier of concrete services for the Western U.S.  We got our start in the Bay Area in 1959 by offering clients the best value on a wide range of concrete services and products.  Since that time, we have taken a leading role as one of the top concrete contractors in the region. We have four regional offices serving California, Nevada, Washington, Oregon and Colorado.

Source: cement.org/cement-concrete-basics/products/ready-mixed-concrete

Resilient Construction with Concrete

A recent trend that is getting attention from the building industry is “resilient construction.”  The movement is defined by the National Ready Mix Concrete Association (NRMCA) as a push toward “more durable construction of today’s residential and commercial buildings that increases occupant safety, reduces costs associated with maintenance and reconstruction, and reduces their environmental footprint.”  In fact the U.S. government considers this move so important that many of the structures are eligible for a tax credit. 

The Portland Cement Association (PCA) suggests that concrete structures can play a vital role in better preparing communities for potential disasters and to “survive with less loss of housing, employment, and critical services.”  When the durability of public buildings, businesses and residential homes is improved, it lessens the impact on the entire community when disaster strikes.  

Incorporating concrete into different types of building structures offers incomparable structural strength as well as a strong resistance to wind.  Concrete is successfully used in the construction of concrete walls, floors, and roof systems.  The NRMCA cites the following reasons why resilient construction has such an important place in today’s world with its ability to:    

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•     Preserve the built environment, both residential and commercial
•        Reduce public and private disaster aid
•     Increase building occupant safety
•       Reduce costs of building maintenance
•         Maintain employment in businesses and institutions that might otherwise be forced to close following a man-made or natural catastrophe.

Keep in mind that disasters such as Hurricane Sandy cost $9.7 billion in insurance claims from damaged property as well as another $50.7 billion in supplemental government funding for the area.  To demonstrate that resilient construction can save lives and money, the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety recently simulated hurricane-strength winds on a structure built with fortified resilient construction techniques and a traditionally built structure.  The report states that the fortified structure was able to withstand the simulated disaster while the traditionally built structure was destroyed in 52 seconds.

The Conco Companies are a leading supplier of concrete services for the Western U.S. We got our start in the Bay Area in 1959 by offering clients the best value on a wide range of concrete services and products.  Since that time, we have taken a leading role as one of the top concrete contractors in the region. Our offices serve California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Nevada.

Sources: cement.org/think-harder-concrete-/homes/resilient-construction, nrmcavoice.com/resilient-construction/