School administrators and designers are recognizing the numerous advantages that precast concrete architectural panels and structural systems can offer K-12 school projects. Precast buildings can greatly accelerate construction time to meet tight occupancy deadlines; provide competitive construction costs with significantly reduced lifecycle costs; and provide a variety of architectural finishes to blend with a campus’ institutional look or create a …

Over the last couple years, the Precast Concrete Institute (PCI) set out to modify the Architectural Certification Program to develop a consensus-based approach to the certification process. This journey concluded in November 2019 and PCI member will be afforded the luxury of electing which level of certification they will strive for as part of the recertification process. The five levels …

Insulated precast concrete wall panels have all the benefits of traditional precast such as durability, acoustic absorption, and quick install, in addition to the added bonus of being an all-in-one complete building enclosure system. These panels are ideal for high durability applications such as schools, gymnasiums, natatoriums, and industrial structures.

Precast concrete is simply concrete that is not cast in its final position, hence, pre-cast. It is cast in a reusable mold and is typically cured in a controlled environment. The last step is moving it to its final, or in-service, position. Cast-in-place concrete is simply concrete that is cast in its final position. So, while both are made of …

Control over your jobsite and schedule. With offsite production, pieces are poured and cured in a controlled environment and then stored offsite until they are headed to a particular jobsite. This means you get a high-quality product that requires less onsite labor and has less impact on the construction site. Remember, “Time Is Money.” Precast building systems can be installed …

What Exactly Is A Crack? A crack is simply when the concrete matrix, or the “glue” for the rocks, cannot hold bond to itself, or the aggregate in the mix, due to volume changes, over-loading, and/or repeated loading.    This creates a failure plane that extends to the exterior of the concrete that we can see in the form of a …

Join us on Facebook, LinkedIn or Youtube for 45 minutes of cooking, camaraderie, and catching up with the Precast Studios. RSVP to the event on our Facebook site here: https://www.facebook.com/events/377377303457800 Thursday, December 3, 20204 PM Central TimePCI Foundation

As summer left in a hurry, we skipped fall, and landed straight into winter. As we go through these different climates during curing process your concrete unfortunately can become susceptible to efflorescence. What is Efflorescence? Efflorescence is a crystalline deposit of salts that can form when water is present in or on brick, concrete, stone, stucco or other building surfaces. …

Often times we get asked about the fire rating for a total precast structure that incorporates precast double tees.  In this blog I will walk you through the steps.  For this process we are going to make the following assumptions:  10’-0 wide double tees (stem spacing is 5’-0 o.c.; Double tee flange thickness is 2”; Silicious Aggregate.  Flange thickness and …

Architectural precast concrete wall panels provide one of the most versatile exterior architectural products available to the market. Using different combinations of cement, dye, rock, and sand can provide colors ranging from white to black. Once you have a color selected, we can begin to play with the exterior finishes to bring the concrete to life. Today I’m going to …