Concrete

When pondering natural hazard in Colorado, we might think of lightning strikes, violent hailstorms, wind, blizzards, flash floods, meteorites and maybe even Bigfoot. But the number one natural hazard, according to the Colorado Geological Survey, actually comes from the ground. 

When pouring concrete, rapid set-up and drying can ruin your day. The warmer the day, the greater the danger of a quick set. 

There exists two ways to pre-stress the concrete in your building project: pretension and post tension. Pretension happens at the precast facility, where the tendon assembly is placed into the concrete form and stressed at the factory to engineered specifications. 

The terms "raft footing" and "mat foundation" describe the same type of building foundation. 

What concrete offers in compressive strength, it lacks in ductility. Unsupported, it can bear fairly heavy loads without cracking, but if poured when using rebar construction, concrete can take considerably more load, even when suspended. 

Now that the burst housing bubble and long recession seem to be in the rear view mirror, a new building boom along Colorado's Front Range has set the construction job market ablaze. 

According to the ENR Mountain State 2017 Regional Forecast, it has been a busy few years for the Colorado construction industry. By the end of November 2016, $16.6 billion new construction starts had been recorded.

When thinking of the system that supports houses or commercial buildings, most people think it begins with foundation. But even a foundation system needs a foundation, so the very first element when preparing the vertical support scheme is the foundation footer.

At first blush, it may seem that stainless steel would be far too expensive for any large concrete structure. Why go to such expensive when ordinary rebar has worked so well for so long? 

With a basement, a home can enjoy nearly double the living space on the same footprint. In Colorado, where the water tables are fairly low, basements are mostly a forgone conclusion. Builders now install egress window systems in new construction, but the codes for such are relatively new.