Engineering Newsletter - February, 2005

The FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER will discuss a few problems which will cause concrete cracking. Designers need to correctly specify and contractors correctly install concrete to reduce cracking.

The following points will help reduce cracking to a minimum.

The four most often problems resulting in concrete cracking are: too much water added to the mix at the job site to make concrete more workable, rapid drying caused by inadequate curing, improper concrete mix used and lack of proper control joints. As you can see the first two items are contractor related and the last two are designer related. With education of both parties a quality product is possible.

Lately the industry has seen use of architectural concrete in walls that are translucent. The concrete has optical fibers in the mix that allow light to pass through the concrete. The use has been limited but it could be a market in the making.

WEB LINK of THE MONTH: www.concretenetwork.com Concrete topics discussed and questions answered. Nice section on textured concrete.

As always, you can count on McSteen and Associates, a multi-faceted second-generation family business that has been serving Northeast Ohio since 1970 to help you better design your project. The McSteen & Associates Engineering and Surveying Departments will design a quality product, using the experience gathered over many years of dealing with government agencies, in a manner readily accepted by the City Councils, County Engineers Office and the Recorders Office. The management team consisting of Terry Feller, President and Registered Professional Engineer and Surveyor, Tim Feller, Vice President and Registered Professional Surveyor and Debbie Feller CFO and Certified Public Accountant and the 62 employees in the offices in Cuyahoga, Lake, Summit, and Franklin counties will handle your project needs. A new office in western Cuyahoga County has recently been added to allow us to provide even more effective services. Local knowledge of the area and experience with the area governments allows McSteen & Associates to go the extra mile to protect your investment.

Whether your needs are Mortgage Location and Boundary Surveys, Commercial and Industrial Surveys or complete Engineering Design we are well staffed to provide the professional product you need. Each project will receive the personal service associated with working with a well-established family owned and operated business.

Jokes of the month:

A hungry lion was roaming the jungle looking for something to eat. He came across two explorers resting after a day’s trekking. One was sitting under a tree reading a book while the other was at a table typing away on his typewriter.

The loin quickly pounced on the reader and devoured him ignoring the other man. The writer escaped, as it seems, because the loin knew readers digest but writers cramp.

-In Colonial England, bread was divided according to status, workers got the bottom of the loaf, family got the middle and guests and dignitaries got the top o