Learn construction skills while helping others

Summer is the perfect time to work on your house - or somebody else's house. Volunteer construction and remodeling is a great way to help needy people while learning valuable construction skills.

My wife and I spent several months outside New Orleans helping rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Every home in St. Bernard Parish, where we worked, was inundated with several feet of polluted floodwater after the levees broke.

After the water eventually subsided, every building needed to be stripped to the studs, and many were rebuilt with volunteer labor. I learned the whole interior construction process, including framing, hanging drywall, mudding and texturing walls, and installing cabinets.

Of course, books and websites can explain cabinet installation, but it was invaluable to learn from and get hands-on experience with the master carpenters and professional craftsmen who regularly came to the parish to work on recovery. I also met many wonderful, caring people, had plenty of fun and ended every day with a sense of pride and accomplishment (and exhaustion).

A group in your community is likely working on homes for low-income families, elderly residents or others. There are also opportunities to help rebuild areas that were devastated by natural disasters.

You can even make it a domestic or international vacation. Every year, hundreds of high school and college students spend the Thanksgiving holiday or spring break working on recovery by day and partying by night in New Orleans.

Here are a handful of reputable volunteer construction organizations:

• Habitat for Humanity is a global leader in volunteer construction, Habitat has built 300,000 homes for more than 1.5 million people around the world since launching in 1976. Unfortunately, it is a victim of its own success. There is sometimes a months-long waiting list for domestic projects, and some volunteers report too much downtime on overcrowded projects, particularly in disaster recovery areas. However, Habitat offers plenty of opportunities for short- and long-term volunteer projects in every region of the world, and does important disaster recovery work.
  
• St. Bernard Project has been called the most effective post-Katrina rebuilding group on the Gulf Coast. Four years after a couple with no construction experience launched the organization, it has rebuilt nearly 300 homes. The group also launched the first post-Katrina mental health center to help residents deal with the stress and other struggles of surviving the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.
  
• Rebuilding Together mostly rebuilds and upgrades homes for veterans, disabled or aging people, and low-income families. A total of 2.5 million volunteers have worked in more than 100,000 homes. The group is currently focused on safety and accessibility upgrades, veterans' housing and rebuilding on the Gulf Coast.
  
• The Appalachia Service Project is a Christian group that repairs homes for low-income families in Kentucky, West Virginia and other parts of rural Appalachia. The group focuses on making homes "warmer, safer and drier." Nearly half of all families in Appalachia have household incomes below $20,000 per year, and poverty is more than double the national average.

Read more »

Shrinkage Compensating Concrete

There are significant developments in concrete technology for a number of different and unique applications. Shrinkage compensating concrete is a concrete made with an expansive cement which, when properly restrained by reinforcement or other means, will expand by an amount equal to or slightly greater than the anticipated drying shrinkage.

Ideally a residual compression will remain in the concrete reducing the risk of shrinkage cracking. In the USA and Russia, expansive cements are produced as an enity, whereas in Japan they are produced by adding expansive admixtures to ordinary porland cement (OPC). A number of types of expansive cements have been used in USA namely Types K, M and S but type K is most prevalent. These cements which either contain or are blended with combinations of calcium sulphate,  calcium aluminates and calcium aluminate sulphates. In Japan another type of expansive cement. not based on sulphate and owing it s expansive properties to hydration of free lime, is used.

Care must be taken to ensure that continuous wet curing is provided for at least 7 days after placing to ensure that the expansion develops. Care also needs to be taken to prevent plastic shrinkage cracking. Expansive cements have been used to produce both shrinkage compensating concrete and self-stressing concrete for use in slabs, pavements, prestressed beams and roofs.

Read more »

Construction Loan Insurance

You’ve decided to build your own dream home. You’ve picked out a plot of land, found a house design that you like, and have secured your bank loans. Did you know that you also need three types of insurance in order to get started?

Never fear, your bank requires two of those types before the building process begins! The three types of insurance you will need are:

• Course of Construction

• General Liability

• Workers’ Compensation

The first two types of insurance are required by the bank, while the third type, workers’ compensation, is required only if the builder has employees. Let’s go over the first two types of insurance in a little more detail, so you’ll understand exactly how you are protected.

Course of Construction. Course of Construction is an all risk policy that includes fire, extended coverage, builder’s risk, replacement cost, vandalism, and malicious mischief. If you are wondering what builder’s risk covers, this provision all buildings and structures as well as all equipment used in the building of the home, whether it is on the job site, on route, or in storage.

General Liability. This type of insurance can be provided either by your or your builder. It is a comprehensive general policy or broad form liability endorsement. If you provide the policy there is a minimum of $300,000 for each occurrence required. If the builder provides it, a general policy of $1,000,000 or broad form liability endorsement is required.

You can usually roll the cost of your insurance into your construction loan. Insurance is considered a soft cost, which means it is something non-physical in nature. Hard costs, by comparison, would include things like the materials needed to build the home. This type of insurance can be provided either by your or your builder.

The many risks of construction mean that choosing the right policy is of utmost importance. Finding an insurance agent who is familiar with the construction industry will help ensure that you are properly covered.

You can usually roll the cost of your insurance into your construction loan. Insurance is considered a soft cost, which means it is something non-physical in nature. Hard costs, by comparison, would include things like the materials needed to build the home.

Read more »

Time Managing Tips for Construction Project Managers

Good time management is very important to a successful project manager.

The best project managers ensure they are productive for most of their time and avoid time-wasters at all costs. Here are some tips for project managers that can help you manage your time more effectively.

Create the Plan

What does this have to do with time management I hear you ask? Well, if everyone knows what they are doing and have a plan with regular milestones to focus on, you as project manager will spend a lot less time dealing with issues brought about through a lack of clarity.

Remember the 80/20 Rule

The 80/20 rule (or the Pareto Principle) is the idea that by doing 20% of the work you can produce 80% of the benefit of doing the whole job.

The value of this for a project manager is that it reminds you to focus on the 20 per cent of activities that matter. Of the activities you do during your project, only 20 per cent are important. Those 20 per cent produce 80 per cent of your results. Identify and focus on those activities.

Not Just Status Updates

It’s best to avoid team meetings where you go round the room asking each person to give a status update. These meetings have little value and waste time. Instead, spend that time focusing on risks, issues and opportunities. Use the team to brainstorm solutions and create ideas.

Team meetings should have an agreed agenda that you stick to. If you schedule an hour for the meeting, make sure it lasts for an hour and no longer.

Take big issues off-line if they are likely to cause a meeting overrun. Don’t make everyone sit through lengthy technical discussions that don’t involve them. Setup a working group to focus on the issues and report to the team at a future meeting.

Stop Micro Managing

Avoid delving into the detail of the work. With software development projects, it’s not necessary for the project manager to get involved at code level, leave this to the developers. You’ve selected the right team for the job. Let them get on with what they are best at, while you concentrate on steering the project to a successful conclusion.

Don’t do the Work

Many project managers make the mistake of getting involved in “doing the work.” Avoid this at all costs. Managing projects is a full-time job and taking your eye off the ball (even for a short period) can lead to problems. It may be tempting to carryout a few tasks when a deadline is looming, but leave this to others while you get on with managing the project.

Create a To-do List

E-mail fixation is a modern-day problem that can distract you from doing the tasks you need or plan to. Creating a daily to-do list keeps you focused on achieving your objectives. Scratching tasks from your list creates a real sense of achievement and drives further activity.

Summary

Time management is a basic skill for project managers. If you can’t manage your own time, how can you expect to manage your teams? Ask each day what you did to move the project forward. Plan your next day, what will you do to ensure your project continues along the straight and narrow. Plan your time, manage your resources with a light touch and communicate effectively. With a little time management, project success should come easier.

Read more »

Free Construction Software

When searching for construction software to help run your business cost should not be your ultimate concern because the old adage is true – you really do get what you pay for. Just as you wouldn’t hire a high school kid to do your accounting because you could get him cheap, you also shouldn’t pick a software package based solely on price. After all, this is your business you’re dealing with.

That said, there are many affordable (and even free) construction software packages out there. A business software application that is totally free, however, may raise a few red flags. How good can it be if they are giving it away? Can I get by without any product support? Do I really want to entrust my business to an untested product that I got free off the Internet? These are very good questions that you should ask yourself before choosing a free construction software program.

But your quest for free construction software does not have to end there. There are software companies that will allow you to try their product for a trial period absolutely free. This is an invaluable service because it allows you to test their software to see if you like it without having to risk anything financially. If a company is willing to offer their product to you for free it shows not only a strong belief in customer service, but confidence that those potential customers will choose their product over a competitor.

Choosing software to run your business is a critical decision. While most people acknowledge the need for such software, they do not always know the best way to go about it. Trying an application on for size before you commit to buying it will relieve the anxiety about making a final decision, and allow you to become comfortable with the software before buying. Seek out these free construction software trials and get on the road to streamlining your business and maximizing your potential.

Read more »

Waterproofing Coating to Concrete Water Tank

Basically, internal surface coating in potable water tank shall be smooth, easy-to-clean and has high mechanical resistance to accommodate the erosion of movement of water. Most important thing is that this coating shall not adversely influence the quality of water.

Sika has been supplying SikaTop Seal 107 or Icosit TW 450 to large numbers of water projects. This product has been tested in local and international laboratory and meets the requirement for waterproofing and protective coating in contact with potable water.

In waste water treatment, besides providing waterproofing properties, internal surface coating shall be able to protect the reinforced concrete structure from aggressive chemicals attack. The degree of chemical attacks then depends on type of chemical involved, time of exposure as well as service temperature itself.

To give the right solution, it is necessary to know all these information before hand. As reference, herewith is some Sika products that have been applied for waste water treatment internal coating: Inertol Poxitar F, 2-part protective coating on epoxy coal tar pitch base and Sikagard 63 N, high build, chemical resistant epoxy resin coating.

In providing waterproofing system to concrete water tank, a good surface coating does not by itself makes a water tank waterproofed. Area of weaknesses are often found at the openings, pipe entry and construction joint or expansion joint system and for these areas waterstops and joint sealant have become an integral part of the whole waterproofing system.

Various types of waterstops are available from Sika, ranging from Sika Waterbars- flexible PVC waterbar to Sika Hydrotite – water swellable profiles. Sikaflex PRO-2HP is one of joint sealant available from Sika. This polyurethane based joint sealant is also has test certificate in compliance with potable water. Sikaflex Pro-3WF is usually used to seal gap & opening of joints when chemical resistance is required especially in waste water treatment plants. Sikadur Combiflex a highly chemical resistant PVC is also available to seal large or wide gaps and openings.

Read more »