Liquid Surface Treatments, Joint-free Slabs, and More

Stirring Things Up

In our never-ending quest to stir things up, we have two articles this month discussing the value of liquid surface treatments for concrete slabs. George Garber, with Face Consultants, and one of the industry’s most knowledgeable and well-respected concrete floors consultants, called a few months ago and wanted to write an article about his experience with floor hardeners. But not quite that simple: “I think it would be interesting to run a couple of articles on liquid hardeners, presenting the arguments for and against,” George wrote. “I volunteer to write the ‘against’ article.” We settled on Scott Tarr to write the “for” article, although in the end, Scott’s “for” was conditional. We would welcome other articles that provide evidence of the advantages of using floor hardeners.

Joint-free Floors

Most Influential

Anne Ellis

Credit: SLSPHOTO.COM

Presenting the 2014 class of the concrete industry’s Most Influential People. Choosing, interviewing, and writing about these people is one of the greatest joys I have in this job. Each has made a difference long term in our industry and has set a legacy that will last far into the future. Anne Ellis is pushing changes at the American Concrete Institute. That’s sort of like trying to push a fully-loaded ready-mix truck uphill. And yet she has found a group of ACI members who welcome most of the changes. These days, we all realize the name of the game is adapt to the new reality or let that ready-mix truck roll right on over you.

We like to use that term, joint-free, although even the best concrete floors are not really joint-free, but more joint-extended. Here is an article discussing a new system for maximizing joint spacing and minimizing curling. There are other ways to accomplish the same thing, as mentioned in the article. If you want to hear all sides of the issue, attend the Quality in Concrete Slabs Luncheon at this year’s World of Concrete, Wednesday, Jan. 22. Speakers will include Bruce Suprenant, Greg Scurto, Greg Fricks, Nigel Parkes, and Steve Lloyd. They will give you a rundown of what is working and will be ready to answer your questions.

CC Live

If you are coming to the World of Concrete, please check the schedule and stop by the magazine’s booth, for what we call CC Live at Booth #C3639. This is right next to the big registration area in the front of the Central Hall. Over the three full days of the show, we will have interviews with prominent industry personalities, let people get into debates over things like silicate hardeners, and present our Five Most Influential and also World of Concrete’s Crews That Rock. If you have any ideas about the magazine, I’ll be around and am always willing to listen.