Reinforced Concrete Design Archives | Page 3 of 3

The reality is that tight construction schedules demand coordination between building trades if a project is to be successful. With the recent uptick in building activity, this task has become increasingly more difficult for both the developer and the general contractor.

In order to alleviate such scheduling difficulties, a simple solution that The Conco Companies provides is to be a single source alternative to our customers. When working with Conco, a GC can make one call and get high-quality, formwork, rebar, place and finish, shotcrete and pumping services all in one place.

The advantages of this approach are clear. As business improves, companies are stretched thin as subcontractors must move their crews between several different projects. A single day delay by one subcontractor can delay the work of others by a week or more as each subcontractor has committed crews and resources to other projects. With Conco’s approach of working as a coordinated team, it allows us to anticipate and respond to any problems with formwork, shotcrete or rebar by shuffling crews to accommodate our customers.

Nowhere is the need as critical as with concrete and rebar. Concrete cannot be poured until rebar is complete and demanding schedules mandate minimal delay between rebar inspection and pouring concrete. When one company controls both aspects, the chances of success are greatly increased. Some key benefits of a combined solution include:

Joint management of rebar and concrete generates a holistic approach where decisions are made based on the best end result
Ability to manage crane time between concrete and rebar tasks
Coordination of trades to keep projects on schedule
Joint collaboration between concrete and rebar that identifies opportunities for improvement in design
Reduction of equipment on projects as forklifts, hydro cranes, and power tools are shared between concrete and rebar
Eliminate disputes over scope issues between concrete and rebar and the management time necessary to settle those disputes
Reduce unnecessary paperwork and charges between trades that add no value to a project

The Conco Companies, through Conco Reinforcement and Conco’s Concrete Division, is structured to meet all the concrete needs of a project. We bring decades of experience to provide unsurpassed services to our customers.

A job in the construction industry is a great career choice for young men and women and an ironworker is one of those highly-skilled positions. To get started, an interested candidate should contact their local iron workers union about apprenticeship training programs available in the area. You may not be aware that the Iron Workers Union actively seeks to encourage and recruit women into the field and report that they have almost 2,000 active members.

An apprenticeship is done on-the-job so you have the opportunity to work alongside journeymen ironworkers. There is also a classroom component where an apprentice must attend approximately 160 hours of classes per year over a period of four years. During the apprenticeship period, an ironworker’s salary starts at about half of that as a journeyman’s wage and increases with experience. Once an apprentice successfully completes the four year program, they become a journeyman ironworker and receive full pay.

Like other construction work, ironworkers must be physically able to perform all the duties of the job. The work can be challenging and the Iron Workers Union states that applicants must be willing to work in high places, have a good sense of balance, and be alert for potential danger to themselves and others. Comprehensive safety training is included in the classroom portion of the program. In addition an apprentice must be able to follow directions and work well with others.

Ironworkers are involved in many aspects of a construction project. At Conco, workers perform all reinforcing work in connection with field fabrication, including but not limited to the pre-assembly of reinforcing cages, loading and unloading, handling, racking, sorting, cutting, bending, hoisting, and the intermittent use of forklifts.

For more information on joining the Conco team take a look at our career page.

For over 50 years, Conco has been providing premium concrete services and is one of the most trusted concrete contractors in Seattle. We partner with clients on every project from the pre-construction stage right through to final completion to maximize efficiency and ensure goals and budgets are met. Our concrete services include commercial, educational, parking and other construction development as well as public works projects.

After the highly publicized reports from this past summer regarding the failure of 32 anchor rods on the eastern span of the new Bay Bridge, the highly regarded concrete contractor, Conco was retained by the general contractor, American Bridge/Fluor Enterprises, Inc. JV, to assist with the repair work. Based on their earlier performance with other critical and technically challenging components of the new bridge structure, Conco was the logical choice. “Every aspect of this project had complex technical challenges.” said Brian Petersen, the contractor’s Project Director, and “Conco’s skill and expertise was a great asset to our team.”

The defective anchor rods were supposed to secure the bridge deck to the concrete crossbeam support. Since the failed rods were embedded and inaccessible, replacement was not feasible. After extensive collaboration and analysis, a fix was designed. It involved a complex series of steel saddles and post-tensioned (PT) jacket walls that would provide the required clamping force to secure the bridge deck framing to the E2 crossbeam. Temporary steel shims were inserted into the stabilizers while the repairs were being done, and in order for the Labor Day opening to go forward as planned. “The SAS bridge is part of a world-class megaproject which features a large amount of challenging concrete work associated with temporary support structures that are not part of the completed bridge,” noted Jim Klinger, Conco’s project manager.

For this very complicated problem, Conco’s first task was to close in a steel-framed trestle platform to give work crews access to the site and eliminate the potential for materials to fall into the San Francisco Bay. Once the platform was complete, crews roughened the crossbeam surface and epoxied over 3,000 drilled dowels into place. Reinforcing steel and PT cable ducts were then installed by Harris Salinas. Conco crews followed behind them, placing custom-made PT trumpet blockouts and setting forms for the jacket walls.

The concrete jacket wall structures were placed in three pours totaling 380 cubic yards. Due to restricted access and rebar congestion, much of the concrete had to be pumped 250 feet and then injected into the forms through ports at strategic locations. Conco worked closely with concrete supplier, Central Concrete, to develop an injectable SCC mix with silica fume that would meet the project’s specifications. A full-scale mockup was constructed and successfully tested to ensure the long-distance pumping and injection of the highly-flowable SCC mix would work.

“Almost all of the concrete work items Conco was asked to perform by ABFJV were custom, one-of-a-kind scopes that we will probably never see again,” said Klinger. In late November, the third and final injection was finished and the repairs were completed successfully.

Conco is a leading supplier of concrete services for the Western United States. As one of the leading commercial concrete contractors in the Bay Area, we have been involved with large-scale projects in the area including the new 49ers Stadium. Our concrete services include commercial, educational, parking and other construction development as well as public works projects and highways.