Precast Foundation Walls

Precast concrete has proved time and time again that it can do just about anything. Precast is versatile, it is efficient, and it is resilient. While many are familiar with our beam, column, and hollowcore system for underground parking and building podiums, our use of precast wall panels as foundation walls might be less familiar. For more than 10 years, Mid-States Concrete has offered customers the option of precast foundation walls – an enhancement of our total precast system. Oftentimes, precast foundation walls installed 10- to 12-feet into the ground can replace cast-in-place or block foundation systems.

Why do customers turn to precast foundation walls? The two biggest reasons are speed and schedule. The precast foundation walls are cast in advance at our plant in South Beloit, based on an agreed upon schedule between the customer and Mid-States Concrete. Panels are then delivered to the site, at an agreed upon time between the customer and Mid-States Concrete.  Additionally, precast concrete makes it possible to complete construction projects during even the extreme weather that comes in cold winter months, as we’re able to both manufacture precast concrete components, as well as install them year-round. Unlike other methods, precast concrete does not need to set up tenting or heating to install.

Many of the projects for which we have provided foundation walls have been assisted living and multi-family buildings with single-story underground parking. Any project that includes underground parking could be a good fit for foundation walls. Considerations that need to be examined for the use of foundation walls include soil pressure, as well as the considerations that typically accompany wall panels – installation, trucking, and access.

In our experience, we have found that most contractors are pleasantly surprised by the speed at which we can install foundation walls and how seamlessly they mesh with our beams, columns, and hollowcore as a complete system. This is also a huge benefit to contractors, as it keeps more of the work within the responsibility of a single sub-contractor.

We also firmly believe that the expertise our design team possesses in building with foundation walls and the attention to detail in both our production and installation processes, our foundation walls offer a better aesthetic quality than other methods.

Interested in learning more about foundation walls? Contact us at sales@msprecast.com.

A message to our Customers

Just wanted to drop a line and let you know we're thinking about you. Check out this short message from our team to yours. We hope you, your team, and your families are doing well.

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It's raining again... now what?

By Brad McCaslin
Project Manager

“If you don’t like the weather wait ten minutes.”

This is a common adage heard around the Midwest. It seems as if we can hit all four seasons in one day here in southern Wisconsin/northern Illinois and this weather creates unique challenges for our installation crews and projects. This time of year, it seems as if we are constantly checking the radar and forecast for rain. This is due to many reasons including shipping, site access, road conditions, and safety. Safety is always foremost on the minds of project managers and Mid States Concrete Industries.

Project managers are tasked with keeping crews safe, schedules tight, and budgets green. Keeping these goals in mind factors into our decision to cancel an installation or attempt an installation with rain in the forecast. These decisions have a real dollar amount attached and can significantly impact not only our bottom line, but the bottom line of the general contractor, developer, owner, etc. of the project.  A gamble to proceed with installation that backfires can cost thousands of dollars in trucking fees with zero return. As a result of these dynamics, our project management team tends to err on the side of caution.

That’s the monetary side of the equation, but the more significant side is safety. Our crews work in dangerous situations daily where falls and jobsite hazards are commonplace. Project managers attempt to minimize our field installation crews’ exposure to increased safety hazards due to rain and weather conditions.

First, it’s important to understand the effects rain can have on our crews and the safety challenges rain poses. Rain can cause washouts of roadways, crane pads, foundations, and access points. There is also the increased chance of lightning that adds its own set of dangers. Rain can significantly reduce visibility between the installation crew and crane operators. Cold exposure and slippery surfaces are additional factors to keep in mind. Rain this time of year tends to be cold, which could lead to illness and prolonged absence of crew members. And, as we all know precast concrete has some smooth surfaces that tend to become slippery when wet. This increases trip and fall hazards which could also lead to an injured crew member.

While it is understood that working in the rain is something we must do at times, as it’s the nature of the industry and the place we call home, it is incumbent upon all of us to make smart decisions in order to best serve not only our customers, but our installation crews as well. Our entire Mid-States Concrete Industries team strives to create a safe environment for all involved and keep our valued customers and team members safe.

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.