Producers must decide between sticking with batching systems that do a good enough job and upgrading to one that runs masterfully with improved accuracies and uptime. Many of us grew up with the idioms “use it up, wear it out” and “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” These words of wisdom are essential for survival in a world of…
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Epoxy coating equal to LA Greenbook’s Pickle Jar Test
Company’s workhorse compound, Structure Guard, has passed critical chemical resistance (pickle jar) testing, as required by the Los Angeles Department of Public Works in accordance with the city’s Greenbook standards. By meeting or exceeding the specifications for epoxy liners, LADPW has formally approved Structure Guard for use in sewer rehabilitation applications. To date, more than 200 other cities, counties, and…
Read MoreDOT Advisory Board guides FRP reinforcement certification
Sources: Regulatory Resources LLC, Westfield, Ind.; CP staff Engineering and construction consultancy Regulatory Resources, along with the DOT Advisory Board it administers, have created an auditing program to certify the quality of structural concrete-grade fiber reinforced polymers (FRPs). Scheduled for early-2022 release, their FRP Quality Control Manual will serve as a guidance document for an auditing program currently under American…
Read MoreMartin Marietta moves first on Quadrel, Forney QC integration
Sources: Forney LP, Zelienople, Pa.; CP staff
Martin Marietta Inc. Denver-area ready mixed operations are the premier users of a cloud-enabled materials and concrete cylinder data platform supported by the integration of Quadrel LLC quality control software and ForneyVault compressive strength testing machine technology.
Read MoreCourt fines ex-Universal Concrete QC manager $700K for falsifying records
Sources: U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria; CP staff
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia has obtained a $700,567 judgment against Andrew Nolan, a former quality control manager for Pennsylvania-based Universal Concrete Products Corp. The fine follows an August 2018 agreement in which he pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud by falsifying air content test results on the federally funded Dulles Metrorail Project in northern Virginia.
Read MoreFalsified air test results catch up with quality control manager
Sources: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria; CP staff
A former concrete quality control manager pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud in connection with the U.S. Department of Transportation-funded Dulles Metrorail Project Phase II, an 11.4-mile stretch of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority’s (MWAA) 26-mile Silver Line extension.
Read MoreNew ASTM C09 guide gauges mix performance, material compatibility
Sources: ASTM International, West Conshohocken, Pa.; CP staff
ASTM Subcommittee C09.48 on Performance of Cementitious Materials and Admixture Combinations’ working document, WK40615 Guide for Comparing Performance of Concrete Materials Using Mortar Mixtures, standardizes longstanding material-performance investigation protocol.
Read MoreQuality control trumps tradition in Amerimix “Ditch the Sand Pile” campaign
An educational effort by Amerimix, the bagged product brand in Oldcastle Architectural’s Echelon Masonry portfolio, encourages block and brick building professionals to “Ditch the Sand Pile” and embrace pre-blended mortar, which can be mixed 50 percent faster and provide economic and time advantages on the jobsite compared to field mixing. The latter method requires cement and lime to be mixed with sand (usually in a pile), while eyeballing the right material combination, avoiding clumps or having the fine aggregate compromised by weather or environmental factors.
Read MoreNPCA opens revised Quality Control Manual to review, comments
Sources: National Precast Concrete Association, Carmel, Ind.; CP staff
The NPCA Quality Assurance Committee invites association members to weigh in on recently ratified changes for the Quality Control Manual for Precast Concrete Plants, 13th Edition. Through year’s end, it is accepting input on changes to Concrete Testing, Pipe, Box Culvert and other sections of the manual, which serves as the basis for NPCA Plant Certification.
Read MoreNCMA endorses ACI Masonry Testing Technician references in key TMS specs
Sources: American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, Mich.; CP staff
The Masonry Society’s TMS 402/602-16: Building Code Requirements and Specifications for Masonry sets new technician requirements to reinforce quality control measures surrounding concrete or clay units, mortar, grout and prism or scaled-wall specimen testing. Contractors, engineers or owner’s representatives can meet the requirements, published in December 2016, by enlisting ACI-certified Masonry Testing Technicians.
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