Using Graphic Concrete on your next project

By Colin Jones
Preconstruction

To bring our customers the latest in precast concrete technology, Mid-States Concrete has been working with a new product called Graphic Concrete®.

In the simplest terms, Graphic Concrete® is thick paper that has a design printed on it using a chemical retarder. That paper is then placed on the bed, like a form liner, before we pour the concrete on top of it. After the wall panel is removed from the bed, it is washed with a pressure washer. Wherever the retarder came into contact with the concrete, the aggregate is exposed to reveal the design.

We have spent the past couple of years testing Graphic Concrete® in our plant and are very excited to serve as a partner on the Maine West Fieldhouse addition in Des Plaines, Ill. with Pepper Construction and the Southwestern Shelby Fieldhouse addition in Shelbyville, Ind. with S & B Construction. Both projects utilize Graphic Concrete® and have some unique aspects.

When Wight and Company first contacted Mid-States about the Maine West Fieldhouse addition, the project was planned as a precast structure with a metal cladding of athletic figures attached to the wall panels. Representatives of the architectural firm were looking for the ability to add a design directly into the precast using the Graphic Concrete® process. The designers knew the image had to blend in with the rest of the precast building and the existing structure. Mid-States created multiple samples using different aggregates and dyes in order to provide the Wight team the options they needed to present to their client. In addition to utilizing Graphic Concrete®, this project will also utilize form liners, sandblast finishes and Nawkaw stain. The Maine West project includes a large customer logo stretched across the entire North and South sides of the building using multiple colors.

When Schmidt Associates, the architectural firm working on the Southwestern Shelby Fieldhouse project, contacted Mid-States with a rendering of what they envisioned for a project, we were excited to share our knowledge of Graphic Concrete®. The architect wanted to use a design featuring the school’s mascot, a Spartan warrior, repeated multiple times around the lower perimeter of the building, surrounded by a ribbed form liner, the top half of which will be sandblasted. Graphic Concrete® helped the architect achieve the desired aesthetics of the building.

While both projects are gym additions, that’s where the similarities end. The beauty of Graphic Concrete® is that it offers customization at an even higher level than precast concrete already offers. With Graphic Concrete® you can reproduce any patterns, textures and photographs with remarkable precision onto any precast surface. People often wonder if it really is concrete.

Mid-States Concrete is truly blessed to be chosen as a partner on such unique and important projects. For more information about how we can help with your Graphic Concrete® project, contact Colin Jones at c.jones@msprecast.com.

The importance of a safety plan

By Mike Wolff
Vice President of Safety and Quality

Among all the promises we make to our Customers, safety is above all else. It is so important to us that, at the end of their shifts, all of our team members go home to their families in the same condition as they arrived, and we want that for your team members as well.

Safety plans are a part of Mid-States everyday work, both at our plant operations and in the field at our installation jobsites. The single most effective tool we can use to prevent accidents at the workplace or jobsite is pre-project/pre-task planning. Mid-States has extensive safety manuals for both plant and field applications that hold most of our safety plans and procedures. While plant operations have standardized policies and procedures for set up, pouring, and stripping, there is still a definite need to have safety plans and pre-planning anytime special projects are created. Implementing a special project hazard awareness assessment can identify safety hazards in specific projects before the project is started. This “look ahead” is crucial to preventing injuries.

A great example of the “look ahead” at Mid-States is the new batch plant renovation and the safety pre-planning that had to be completed with the suppliers and contractors. Several meetings were held with the contractor trying to identify every opportunity for safety issues, before the project even began. It is essential to complete a site-specific job safety analysis looking for any hazards. OSHA identifies the “big 4 hazards” as fall hazards, electrical hazards, stuck by hazards, and caught in between hazards. By looking at each aspect of every hazard, corrective actions can be put in place and plans initiated. This proactive approach not only improves the safety of a project, but it helps identify efficiency and quality issues before they become actual issues.

Site specific pre-planning is also a required part of every project in the field. Every jobsite is unique, with different types of hazards. Mid-States foremen complete site-specific pre-planning meetings on every project before they “pick their first piece.” It is this crucial exercise that identifies hazards and prevents accidents. Contractors would not dream of running a job without a plan and safety management must be treated in the same manner.

By creating safety plans and pre-planning accordingly, hazards are eliminated, quality is gained, disruptions are reduced, and money is saved – all of which help set your project up for success.