Tilt-up's new face: here's an opportunity to join in this sector's growth

Concrete Producer, The, Jan, 2005 by Pieter VanderWerf

Concrete block producers are finding a surprising new customer--tilt up construction. These producers are making a new veneer product for tilt-up wall panels. And they are uncovering a huge potential market for architectural products in the process.

Chameleon Cast Wall System of Brookline, Mass., has licensed these companies to produce a "thin block veneer" for cast concrete wall panels. By casting the Chameleon units into the face of the walls, the tilt-up contractor can achieve the look of genuine architectural masonry or stone.

The units are economically produced on standard block equipment. Installation of the veneer fits into the tilt crew's normal procedures using existing workers. The amount of labor required at the jobsite is low, and the installed cost of the system is competitive with other premium finishes for tilt-up construction.

This development is striking to many in the block industry who have labored to find ways to compete with tilt-up. Over the last five years, the National Concrete Masonry Association (NCMA) has studied how to stem the loss of gray block's market share to tilt-up construction. Nonetheless, tilt-up has continued to grow, almost tripling over the last decade to almost 500,000 square feet of walls built per year.

Chameleon is marketing the system to expand awareness among contractors and, ultimately, bring it to other areas of North America. "Chameleon is an idea whose time has come," says Darryl Winegar, general manager of Midwest Block and Brick. "In addition to selling a high-margin product, it also positions us squarely at the top of the food chain of the booming design-build market. Our salespeople are making presentations to top management at firms we had a hard time getting into before. They want to see Chameleon, but they also want to hear about the rest of our line."

Big box growth

Tilt-up's growth began in the "big box" market for warehouses and distribution centers. Historically, the construction method has been well-suited to these large, plain structures. But as the big box market leveled off, tilt-up contractors have sought work in smaller, more architecturally pleasing buildings such as schools, stores, offices, and multi-family residential. To appeal to these markets, they have developed a host of construction methods for buildings with smaller, irregular floor plans. They have also looked for architectural finishes that provide premium, traditional looks which these markets require.

The idea for Chameleon originated with an engineer and a marketing consultant in the block industry who read the NCMA research on how to compete with tilt-up. They reasoned that even if tilt-up took more and more of the building projects, block could offer a range of attractive finishes that traditional tilt methods lacked.

Embedded veneers had been used in cast wall panels since the 1960s, and in the last decade, they've been successful in tilt-up construction. (See sidebar "Thin Masonry Veneers"). But no one had developed a practical way to embed a concrete facing unit. With technical assistance from experts in block production and architecture, Chameleon finalized the design and installation methods. Released just over a year ago, six contractors in North America have installed the system in test panels and large and small projects.

Routine production

Two block producers currently license and manufacture the system: E.P. Henry in Woodbury, N.J., and Midwest Products Group in Jefferson City, Mo. "The product is pretty routine to make," says John Poignard, E.P. Henry's head of operations. "There's no core puller, no special equipment, and there's not much different about the way we run the line. The product is only about 2 inches thick, so we can run up to eight full units at a time. We had a high rate of culls on the split-face at first, but we showed them how to modify the molds, and now the cull rate is about the same as on any of our split products. Cubing is a little different, but it's no big deal."

The basic Chameleon system includes six masonry units: a full stretcher (nominal 8x16 in.), half stretcher (nominal 8x8 in.), a left and right full miter, and a left and right half miter. The miters form corners and jambs for openings. Chameleon also plans to offer other sizes and shapes, based on requests from architects.

The units have a subtle chamfer along the top and side edges. In the final wall, the chamfers create a pronounced shadow line in lieu of a mortar joint. There is no mortar and no pointing of the masonry.

Manufacturers so far have produced units with smooth, split, and sandblast faces. They also plan to produce ground-face units. Virtually any color and finish created on other architectural block can be made on Chameleon units because they are produced by the same methods on the same machinery.

At the jobsite

The tilt crew sets the units face-down on the casting slab at the jobsite. By choosing and arranging their units, they can create anything from a simple block-look wall to complex patterns of color and texture. In fact, many designs that appear to defy gravity and would be impractical with conventional masonry can be made relatively simply.