Rebounding from nature's forces: a road trip to Florida is good for the soul

Concrete Producer, The, Feb, 2005 by Jimmy Ambrose

I've come to believe that hurricanes and concrete production have a lot in common.

I know this isn't something producers often have time to consider. But I've had time to reflect on subjects like this the last few weeks. Unfortunately, becoming our industry's philosopher wasn't something I really planned on doing.

After a 30-year continuous run in this crazy business, I'm suddenly looking at it from the outside of a cab. My former employer decided on a sunny November afternoon (and the day before Thanksgiving) to lay everyone off (including yours truly) and close the company down.

Unemployment is quite an experience for anyone. Oh well, I needed a vacation anyway. And just like most people who find themselves without a job, I decided to take a few days off from the job hunt and go to Florida.

But unlike those other folks who travel to the Sunshine State to stake out a new life, I was fortunate. Robbie, my girlfriend, has a condo in Panama City. So on Thanksgiving, we decided to load up the old Harley and enjoy the sunshine and ocean from the backside of the windshield.

Along with recharging my enthusiasm, I thought the trip would be a good time to see what changes last year's hurricanes wrought. After one good day of riding, Tennessee's cold weather followed us. Somehow the thought of 27[degrees]F weather and the state of Florida don't quite match, but who are we to question Mother Nature?

Although, the destruction from the hurricanes wasn't quite as widespread as I thought it would be, the amount of new construction I saw amazed me. Some of the older mom and pop motels, the local hamburger and pancake joints, and the neighborhood beer establishments have been razed to make way for "Something Bay" Condos or the new Hyatt Regency Bayside. One thing I'm glad to see is parking garages being added to these structures.

Boom time

Tower cranes are sticking up from several locations, and ready mix trucks are running rampant up and down Front Beach Road. Concrete buckets solemnly await the next load of column mix. Placement booms are greased and ready for the next 12,000- to 15,000-square-foot slab pour. Corrosion inhibitors, non-chloride accelerators, and superplasticizers will add much needed safety factors and workability to the mixes.

Bill Binford, from Nichols Concrete Pumping in Fort Walton Beach, said his pumping business was really "booming" in the Florida panhandle. Each of these projects (of which there must have been at least 10 to 15 between Panama City and Pensacola) average between 20,000 and 35,000 yards of concrete and range from 12 to 20 stories in height. The columns and walls are utilizing 4000 psi and 7000 psi mixes, while the slabs and beams are using 5000 psi and 6000 psi versions with corrosion inhibitors for obvious reasons.

Leslie Finch of Couch USA Ready Mix says that on two of their projects, The Shores of Panama and Tidewater Condominiums, they are utilizing forming systems that allow the contractor to pour floors one day and move the forms the next.

The strength requirements for this process make it necessary to have strengths in excess of 3500 psi to 3750 psi in 12 to 24 hours. Cement, class F fly ash, and a little superplasticizer makes for a good cake mix, doesn't it? Another project they are servicing is the New Hathaway Bridge. It has 28-day strength requirements in excess of 8000 psi, the standard Florida DOT specification.

Seeing all of the "new beginnings" in Panama City after the hurricanes came through reminded me of the new beginning I have for myself after my hurricane came through. It's amazing how life's little opportunities continue to keep popping up at the right time.

JIMMY AMBROSE

jimambrose@aol.com