Michigan Promoters Conduct Concrete Overlay Open House

The Michigan Concrete Association (MCA) recently held an open house to highlight the placement of a concrete parking lot overlay at a local church in the Grand Rapids area. The team at MCA in conjunction with the ready mixed concrete supplier, Grand Rapids Sand & Gravel, and several other industry partners helped draw in close to 100 spectators, reports NRMCA Senior Director, National Resources, Doug O’Neill.

This concrete overlay project consisted of 942 yards of concrete, 3.5" thick over distressed asphalt placed with a Somero Laser 

Screed. The concrete contractor, Burgess Concrete of Moline, MI, placed approximately 250 yards of concrete the day before so that attendees would have a chance to walk on a finished section, complete with properly executed saw cuts. The day of the open house offered mostly rain, yet despite the bad weather attendees were able to get a good look at what a concrete overlay looks like (shown at right) and how things are set up, O'Neill said. Having it all formed and actually seeing how grades were addressed and ultimately how the overlay process works was an important part of the education process this open house was designed to address. Members of the MCA team and Tim Burgess with Burgess Concrete were there to answer questions or to simply walk the slab with interested parties, which included contractors, bankers, politicians, insurance providers, general contractors, facilities management, churches, universities, local business owners and developers.

O'Neill said MCA turned to the NRMCA’s Design Assistance Program (DAP) to provide an ACI 330-designed concrete section as a way to help the owner and contractor both feel better about this application since it was new to them. The event itself was a huge success from a promotion and education standpoint and the effects of this effort could be felt for some time. "We’ve already heard from several in attendance of leads on future projects both for overlay opportunities and conventional concrete paving as well," said MCA's Steve Waalkes.

For more information, contact Steve Waalkes at swaalkes@miconcrete.net or Doug O’Neill at doneill@nrmca.org.