Fall 2004 - National Ready Mixed Concrete Association

feature
Above: Coloring and stamping the concrete allows drives to be designed to complement the home’s
architecture. Right: Stained concrete creates an elegant interior floor in this upscale living room.
specifiers and owners so that they would
start asking for decorative concrete products.
Technical information was updated and
expanded so that engineers, contractors and
ready mixed producers would know how to
work with concrete that contained white
cement.
The Art of Concrete is one of the backbones
of PCA’s program. It’s a colorful
brochure targeted to specifiers that talks
about the beauty, versatility and value of
white cement concrete. It presents cast-inplace,
precast and tilt-up projects to show
how white cement concrete can be used to
create imaginative, attractive and energy efficient
buildings and other structures.
The Versatility of Concrete is also an idea
brochure, geared heavily to homeowners and
homebuyers to get them thinking about
where they can use concrete products
around their homes. Inside or outside, top
to bottom, from countertops and floors to
roof tiles, driveways, patios, pool decks and
retaining walls, cement-based products offer
durability and bring a high level of quality
to any property.
Several case studies highlight successful
applications of white and colored concrete.
White Concrete Brightens Highways of Hope
talks about white concrete parapets on the
Pennsylvania Turnpike. Ready Mix: Making
the White Decision profiles a successful D.C.-
area ready mixer and gives several examples
of projects where white cement made a difference,
including the Dulles Airport Expansion.
Super Floors for Supermarkets examines
how one ready mixed and contractor team
has been building light reflective floors for
grocery stores in the Pacific Northwest. And
White Concrete: New Avenues of Safety takes a
look at North Avenue in Chicago, where
white curbs and medians mix with decorative
tinted precast planter boxes to improve
the safety and aesthetic aspects of a city
street with heavy pedestrian traffic.
Technical materials range from two-page
tech briefs focused on a single topic (surface
variety, light reflective floors, and mixing
22 ı FALL 2004