Source: Rock Products staff
The number of improving housing markets continued to expand for a third consecutive month in November, rising from 23 to 30 on the latest National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index. The list dropped two metropolitan areas and added nine new ones—Fort Collins, Colo.; Hinesville, Ga.; Davenport, Iowa; Monroe, La.; Lima, Ohio; Williamsport, Pa.; Corpus Christi and Tyler, Texas; and, Cheyenne, Wyo.
Read MoreSource: Universal Lubricants, Wichita, Kan.
Shawnee Mission, Kan., ready mixed producer Penny’s Concrete has adopted American Petroleum Insitute-licensed and Society of Automotive Engineers-grade Eco Ultra recycled oils and coolants across its 150-truck fleet.
Read MoreSources: CP staff; National Concrete Masonry Association, Herndon, Va.
By Don Marsh
Reps. John Shimkus (R-IL-19) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI-2) have introduced a bill enabling creation of a Concrete Masonry Board to oversee a generic promotion, research and information awareness program on behalf of U.S. block producers and importers. Operating with up to 25 members under Secretary of Commerce authority, the board could support the program—modeled after other industries’ “check-off” initiatives—by assessing producers or importers 1 to 5 cents/concrete masonry unit sold in the United States.
Read MoreSource: AltusGroup, Bethlehem, Pa.
CarbonCast high performance insulated wall panels were erected for the first time in Canada at the new Cineplex Galaxy cinema in Chatham, Ontario, by International Precast Solutions, River Rouge, Mich.
Read MoreSource: Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute, Schaumburg, Ill.
At a meeting on November 9, the CRSI Board of Directors urged all producer members to revert to an inch-pound bar marking system for all sizes and grades of deformed reinforcing steel products. CRSI members produce more than 90 percent of domestic reinforcing steel.
Read MoreSources: Portland Cement Association, Skokie, Ill.; National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Silver Spring, Md.
PCA and NRMCA were among concrete and masonry interests providing testimony at the International Green Construction Code final action hearings, November 2–6 in Phoenix. One of the most significant concepts debated was the use of life-cycle assessment (LCA) for building designs. A PCA proposal for the inclusion of whole building LCA as an alternative compliance path to prescriptive criteria for materials for building design was disapproved, although placing whole building LCA into the code as a project elective option for building designs was approved.
Read MoreSources: McGraw-Hill Construction, New York; American Institute of Architects, Washington, D.C.
Drawing on McGraw-Hill Construction Dodge data, a new AIA report finds the share of projects—led by those in the education and multifamily sectors—stalled due to financing problems has nearly doubled since 2008. “Stalled Construction Projects and Financing” correlates the challenges of construction financing to the incidence of stalled projects in the U.S.
Read MoreSource: National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Silver Spring, Md.
According to data included in the recently released NRMCA Industry Data Survey of producer members, ready mixed producers have been hit hard by the recession and slow economic recovery.
Read MoreSource: Grace Construction Products, Cambridge, Mass. Effective January, Grace will implement price increases averaging 5 percent across North American concrete and masonry product lines. Pricing for certain products may increase by more than 10 percent. The company attributes the bumps to continued demand for chemical streams globally, which has put pressure on the cost and availability of raw materials used…
Read MoreSource: Wieser Concrete Products Inc., Maiden Rock, Wis. Wieser Concrete recently opened a 32,000-sq.-ft. precast plant in Roxana, Ill., 35 miles northeast of St. Louis. Like its four sister operations, the National Precast Concrete Association-certified plant is producing a full range of structures and components for agriculture, commercial, highway and underground applications. Andrew Wieser has been named general manager at…
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