This post is sponsored by The QUIKRETE Companies and written by its vice president of marketing, Frank Owens. World of Concrete 2016 opens Feb. 2 in Las Vegas. QUIKRETE will be there. Will you?
The value of concrete
The undeniable value of concrete as a pillar in the building industry is stronger today than ever thanks to several technology-driven trends that will continue to evolve in 2016. As the largest manufacturer of concrete and masonry building and repair products in North America, our core product line is at the heart of the first trend — the desire to increase jobsite efficiency, consistency and quality while reducing material and labor costs. Few other building materials can help keep a project on schedule and on budget like pre-blended concrete, which is why we’re constantly innovating new products that set and gain strength quickly. A great example is our new QUIKRETE Q-Max Pro. The first concrete that delivers one-hour working time, three-hour walk-on time and 6,500 PSI compressive strength with crack, freeze-thaw and corrosion resistance, QUIKRETE Q-MAX Pro established a new standard in the market last year.
Our concrete infrastructure
Another key issue driving the need for fast-setting, high-early strength concrete is an aging transportation infrastructure littered with deteriorated roadways, bridges and tunnels in desperate need of attention. As a result, hundreds of billions of federal and state dollars are being allocated to rehabilitate the country’s transportation infrastructure, which will certainly take decades. Beyond the cost, the challenge of restoring unsafe roadways, bridges and tunnels is minimizing traffic disruptions during the process. We’ve worked with nationwide with state departments of transportation to develop specific concrete repair products including QUIKRETE Rapid Road Repair and QUIKRETE Fast-Set DOT Mix. These repair materials are formulated to meet the DOTs structural and cost requirements, but also can be used primarily overnight and during other low traffic times with traffic lanes open by morning rush hour. Our most recent addition in this arena is QUIKRETE FastSet Latex Modified DOT Overlay, which is a fiber-reinforced, low-permeability, rapid-setting overlay material that can be applied from 1-inch thick to full-depth repairs up to 8 inches in a single application. It’s already become popular in the Northeast and Florida.
How WOC fits in
Regardless of the economy and the health of the building industry, QUIKRETE has attended every World of Concrete since the first one in 1975. With thousands of exhibitors and attendees representing companies of all types and sizes, the World of Concrete has always provided the most comprehensive view on the concrete industry. We’ve really used it as a platform to demonstrate new products and innovations and to engage contractors, specifiers, dealers, distributors and architects about their specific needs. In fact, we devote an entire 1,200-square-foot booth called The QUIKRETE Demo Zone to educating and training contractors on new product innovations. Our involvement at World Concrete has always proven to be positive barometer for our direction as a concrete company moving forward.