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Education and Promotional Services For Building Professionals Working in partnership with the concrete industry, Lehigh Southwest provides promotional and educational services to concrete producers, contractors, governmental agencies, architectural and engineering firms to highlight the benefits of concrete as a building material with greater flexibility and durability than any other. Some of these programs qualify as Educational Units for architects and engineers. A variety of programs and educational information are available through our sales and technical services departments:
For the General Public & Teachers Although concrete is virtually a universal building materials, few people understand how it is created. If you are a teacher looking for resources for your students, or just an interested member of the public, scroll or click directly to the following sections. Online Tour Redding Plant Cement Applications Cement vs. Concrete Keeping Concrete Clean The cement plants at Tehachapi and Redding are pleased to host groups who wish to learn more about the cement manufacture process. They welcome professional groups and students alike. Click here to request a tour of either location or to have one of our sales representatives contact you. Cement vs. Concrete Most people don’t know the difference between
"cement" and "concrete". If asked they
are likely to say something like, "I’ve never really thought
about it. Aren’t they the same thing?" While cement and concrete
are related, they are nowhere near the same thing! Cement, which
is the short version of "Portland cement", is a fine gray
powder which looks very much like flour. Most people have never
seen cement. But they’ve seen a lot of concrete. Concrete
is a mixture of cement, sand, rock, water and small amounts of additives.
Concrete is the material we encounter in our everyday lives. The relationship between cement and concrete is similar to the relationship between flour and cake. While neither cake nor concrete can be made without the "flour" they are definitely not flour and like a cake, when the concrete has finished "cooking" the flour is nowhere to be seen. Another way to think about it is that cement is the glue in the concrete holding the sand and stone together. It should also be noted that like many "glues", cement doesn’t "dry", it hardens through a process called hydration. Just as different occasions call for different types of cakes (one would never take Christmas Cake to a two-year old’s birthday party) different applications call for different types of concrete. While basic concrete can be made at home, most concrete today can only be made by your local ready mixed concrete manufacturer and delivered ready to use in a ready mixed concrete truck. Why Concrete? Concrete is the preferred construction material due to its long service life, flexibility of design, versatility of uses, beauty and excellent life cycle cost. Concrete is able to resist staining, chemical attack, and severe weather conditions, requiring minimal repair and inconvenience to the public. Concrete is a “green” construction material. By reflecting light, construction with concrete saves energy costs and contributes to “cool” communities as seen in the thermal photograph. Concrete is also an excellent insulating material, reducing heating and cooling energy requirements. Concrete can be made into any shape and can be stamped or colored to add design and texture to any building project.
When concrete is used, so is cement. Everywhere we look, cement and concrete are an integral part of our lives. Much of our infrastructure is constructed with concrete. Highways, bridges, water and sewer treatment facilities, dams, highway sound walls, and airport runways are all made with cement. Our residential neighbourhoods use cement in streets, curbs, sidewalks, driveways, garages, house foundations, patios, stucco, concrete roof tiles and even swimming pools. Hospitals, churches, stores, and office buildings all use concrete in their construction. Without cement and concrete, we could not enjoy the quality of life we have today. How Cement Works When stone, sand, water and Portland cement mix in proper proportions, the water and cement form a glue that coats every particle and fills the spaces between them. The water triggers a chemical reaction called hydration. This reaction forms a gel, which as it hardens binds the stones and sand into a solid mass that becomes stronger and stronger, forming concrete. For information on removing stains and cleaning concrete surfaces, contact the Portland Cement Association at (847) 966-6200 or go to their website.
Promotion "For Better Building" At Lehigh Southwest Cement, we believe promotion of our products is important for building success. Lehigh Southwest personnel are committed to be leaders in our industry where promotion is concerned. Promotion goes hand-in-hand with sales, but it adds an important dimension. Promotion at its best is a cooperative effort among industry partners toward the common good of all. Promotion involves educating customers and consumers about the value and versatility of cement and concrete. Our goal is to become the leader in promotion and education throughout our marketplace. In 1998, Lehigh Southwest initiated a campaign to promote concrete parking areas. We focused on "box-lunch" presentations to architects and engineers, who are constantly seeking new information on better concrete practices. In 2000, we started a similar program promoting Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF). ICF's are blocks made with polystyrene and are stacked like Lego's to form a wall. Once in place, they are filled with concrete to produce a solid, energy-efficient, fire and pest resistant, and extremely sound-resistant wall. In 2002, our focus has been on Pervious Concrete for parking areas. Pervious Concrete is concrete with 15-25% voids that allow storm water to penetrate to the native soil at a rate of 3-5 gallons per square foot, per minute. This material can help meet Best Management Practices (BMP) to comply with EPA Storm water Runoff regulations. Michael Livingston, President of Livingston's Concrete, remarked "(Lehigh Southwest's) efforts to educate and inform architects and engineers, through their 'box-lunch' presentations is the type of help we need to grow our industry. We need forward-thinking companies like Lehigh Southwest Cement to be in the forefront to help instruct those individuals or groups who specify materials." By working with contractors, engineers, architects, ready-mix concrete producers and materials suppliers to the construction industry, Lehigh Southwest is expanding the awareness and benefits of concrete as the better building material. In November 1999, Lehigh Southwest organized the first local Concrete Expo in Reno. The half-day session included six 90-minute sessions covering:
Chuck Vander Kooi, a well-known speaker at World of Concrete, gave the keynote address, "People Management in the New Millennium." Reno's second Concrete Expo was expanded to an all day event, and attracted 175 participants on February 7, 2001. Lehigh Southwest has also co-sponsored other Concrete Expos in Medford, Sacramento, Merced and Santa Rosa. Most of these have become annual events. "A better informed and educated customer means the opportunity for the industry to improve and expand," notes Gregg Samelson, Teichert Ready Mix Sales Manager. "We look forward to building on the success of this event, and making our Concrete Expo an annual event." Lehigh Southwest will continue to work with our customers and suppliers to educate architects, engineers, home buyers and the general public to the benefits of concrete. Promotion "for better building."
The rise in stormwater pollution awareness has brought a higher level of attention to the product in recent times. Cities have become very concerned with stormwater runoff and the best ways to treat it. In some instances, zero runoff must be achieved before siting is even allowed. This means all rainwater that falls onto the property must be retained there. By utilizing pervious concrete, sometimes in conjunction with trenches underneath filled with open-graded stone to act as reservoirs, projects are able to achieve the zero runoff requirement. The pervious concrete allows the rainfall to seep right through the parking area, and then the reservoirs, where needed, hold the water until it can seep back into the ground. Pervious products can be used in a variety of ways, depending only upon the ingenuity of the civil engineer. It is also a lot cheaper and more efficient than some of the other reservoir systems, or tying up property for retention ponds. Those are increasingly expensive options, as well as a potential legal liability.
Pervious concrete can contain about 15% voids. These run between 1/8 to 1/4 inch in diameter. Water has no problem running through it under normal usage. The recommended maintenance includes only periodic sweeping with vacuum-type sweepers. In most circumstances, the normal sweeping schedule maintained for litter control is plenty for keeping the pervious operating well. The voids in pervious concrete can fill up if construction equipment is allowed to track a heavy layer of mud and clay onto it. Even in a situation where clay has been become packed into the surface, however, experience has shown that pressure washing can get their product back to about 90% of its effectiveness level.
For more information about pervious concrete, click here to contact a Lehigh sales person. | ||||||||||||||||||
Research
shows that the best way to filter out pollutants from stormwater
runoff is to filter it back through the ground. Unfortunately, with
the rise in urbanization (i.e., pavement), more rainwater has been
running directly into unfiltered catch basins and eventually into
streams, rivers and bays. Pervious concrete, a paving
material which actually allows water to drain down through it, is a
solution which looks to be worth a lot of attention in the area of
stormwater runoff control.
