Construction recruiting firms around the nation are always looking for skilled concrete laborers and finishers. From pouring parking structures and parking lots to roads and building foundations, concrete construction is essential to the conveniences of daily life.
Concrete construction falls into two categories – flat work and structural. Structural concrete projects include pour-in-place, tilt-up, and formwork. Concrete finishers are responsible for a variety of different tasks that typically include setting the forms that that hold concrete and spreading/leveling the cement before it dries. Once a concrete project is cured, then workers examine it for damage, or high spots to grind away. Additional steps include waterproofing or restoring concrete surfaces using appropriate compounds.
Individuals currently working with full-service concrete contracting companies have been a part of several of these significant projects in recent years.
- Nashville International Airport Hangar – The Nashville International Airport is undergoing a $1.2 billion-dollar renovation that will be able to support the anticipated 20 million passengers by the year 2035.
- CONRAC – With three levels, this 1.2 million-square-foot facility includes 900 linear feet of moving walkways, a covered entry plaza from Short-Term Parking, an on-grade quick turnaround facility, three 20,000-gallon underground storage tanks, 54 fueling stations, 10 carwash bays and public art.
- Belterra Park Gaming – The construction included a large open floor plan for gaming and entertainment areas, a grandstand structure for spectators, a casino and gaming facility, a horse track, and lower level parking. For the gaming facility, a 4-inch topping slab was poured after under-slab utilities were installed for video slot machines.
- Arlington National Cemetery – The 27-acre property expansion will provide more than 27,000 gravesites and niches, extending the cemetery’s burial opportunities for first interments into the 2030s. Included close to 16,000 cubic yards of cast-in-place concrete, encompassing site retaining walls and architectural concrete (with a Class A colored finish) for four new columbarium courts and three niche walls.
- Bristol Motor Speedway – Workers repaired and renovated the track’s crash walls, pit road, apron and base pavement.
- Oklahoma Jenkins Parking Garage – Workers are providing a total concrete package on this five-story parking garage. The scope of work includes self-performing all the vertical and horizontal formwork, installing all the rebar, and performing all the place & finish of concrete.
New Developments in Concrete Technology
There’s some interesting developments being made by researchers looking for ways to make concrete materials stronger and more sustainable around the world. Construction Dive reported that a team at Binghamton University-State University of New York and Rutgers University developed a self-healing fungi concrete that could permanently heal structural cracks. Other researchers from around the world are testing shape-memory polymers, using small capsules to deliver healing agents and bacteria, and introducing organic and inorganic materials into the surface of cement.
Scientists associated with Purdue University are designing a bridge in California that will use concrete infused with microscopic-sized nanocrystals from wood. The research team hopes the new mix will yield stronger concrete through a chemical reaction that increases the hydration of the cement particles it contains. An additional benefit of cellulose-infused concrete is that it sets faster and takes less time to cure.
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