Jim Klinger, Concrete Construction Specialist
The Slab Newsletter June 2025
Full Disclosure: On 18 May 2025, Dr. Ward Malisch--The Original ASCC Hotline Operator--passed away after a long battle with cancer. The following morning, a memorial tribute summarizing and showcasing Ward's extensive concrete industry accomplishments--including his significant contributions to the ASCC--was published in a Message from the Executive Director, see below:
"In Memoriam: Dr. Ward R. Malisch (1939–2025)
A Pioneer, Mentor, and Lifelong Advocate for ASCC Concrete Contractors
The ASCC is deeply saddened to share the news of the passing of Dr. Ward R. Malisch, who died on Sunday, May 18, 2025, in Lebanon, TN, after a courageous battle with cancer. A brilliant engineer, respected educator, and dedicated servant to the concrete construction industry, Ward was a valued member of the ASCC family whose contributions left a lasting mark on our organization and membership.
Ward joined the ASCC in 2008 as our first-ever Director of Engineering, a role he held until 2013. He then served as Concrete Construction Specialist until his retirement in 2020. In both roles, Ward was a vital technical resource for ASCC members across the country, translating complex engineering principles into practical, jobsite-ready knowledge that helped members build better and safer concrete projects.
Ward’s career began in academia, following BS, MS, and PhD degrees in civil engineering from the University of Illinois. He went on to teach at three universities before joining the American Concrete Institute (ACI), where he served as Director of Engineering and later Senior Managing Director. Ward was an Honorary Member of ACI and an active contributor to several key committees, including ACI 117, 301, and 302, often serving as a bridge between ACI’s technical community and ASCC’s contractor members.
Over his lifetime, he authored or coauthored more than 200 articles, books, reports, and papers on subjects of direct importance to ASCC contractors, including tolerances, floors, and specifications. His work consistently addressed real-world challenges faced on jobsites, and he had a rare gift for offering practical, contractor-focused solutions.
Ward’s industry honors reflect the breadth of his impact:
ASCC Lifetime Achievement Award (2011)
ACI Arthur Anderson Award (2010)
ACI Construction Award (2011)
ACI Roger Corbetta Award (2019)
NRMCA Richard Gaynor Award (2008)
Construction Writers Association Silver Hard Hat Award (2006)
Dr. Malisch wasn’t just a technical expert—he was a mentor, a problem-solver, and a champion of concrete contractors. His voice, insights, and passion for quality construction helped shape the culture and credibility of the ASCC we know it today. He will be deeply missed and long remembered.
Our thoughts are with his family and all those in the industry who were fortunate to call him a colleague and friend."
I first met Ward at the ACI Fall Convention held in Cincinnati, October 2019-- about a year before retiring from my full-time "day job" and officially joining the staff here with the ASCC Technical Division.
I had decided earlier to sit in as a listener at one of the morning ACI 506 (Shotcrete) Committee Meetings and was just leaving the convention center to grab a bite to eat when I recognized Ward approaching the crosswalk from across the street. There was no way I was going to let him walk by without saying something.
I introduced myself, we shook hands, and I made it a point straightaway to tell Ward how much I (and countless others) have appreciated his work troubleshooting concrete construction for concrete contractors. I advised Ward how his efforts over the years helped me to navigate through many a tough situation-- whether I was working for a private Owner, a structural engineering firm, or a concrete contractor. It didn't much matter. There are many among the ASCC ranks that have always said the same thing. Ward's valuable concrete troubleshooting advice was brought to bear by many of us almost every step of the way.
Since that chance meeting in Cincinnati, I kept in touch with Ward via occasional phone calls and email traffic, the last of which was dated March 3, just a few short months ago. In typical Malisch fashion, Ward downplayed his illness by writing "I am a walking miracle, having entered my fourth year of metastasized bone cancer without any current traumatic pain. I give God and my faithful spouse all of the credit. Prayer works".
Since Ward's passing, I have fielded quite a few Hotline phone calls from ASCC members who wanted to express their condolences and to pay their respects to the Original ASCC Hotline Operator, who will be missed by all of us.
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Question: We are considering preparing a bid for a mid-rise (e.g. 5 elevated floors) city government office building that features post-tensioned (PT) concrete slabs. As a company, we have no previous experience with PT work; although we do have a few workers in our reinforcing steel crew that have experience placing and stressing PT tendons. In addition, one of our carpenter foremen has worked on a small PT garage before hiring on with us.
The PT slabs are 8 inches thick, placed with a "high-early" concrete mix that enables stressing to be completed within the specified 72 hours. The mix is designed to reach 3000 psi at 3 days, 5000 psi at 28 days.
Our estimators are almost finished with their modeling and take-offs for the concrete and formwork quantities, and the reinforcing steel division is nearing completion of their estimate as well. The next bid items that need attention include assessment of key baseline schedule activities: structural excavation, concrete placement, and formwork cycling. We are calling the ASCC Hotline with questions regarding the last item--formwork cycling. We own enough column and wall forms to do this job, but we are going to have to rent the formwork and shoring for the 5 elevated PT slabs.
We invited our carpenter foreman with PT experience to come into the office and meet with our estimating team to discuss the proprietary forming systems currently available for rent in our market; and the labor hours we will need to erect and strip the slabs. Our foreman advised us that we will not need to reshore the top-most (5th floor) slab once the PT has been stressed and the structural engineer has approved the PT tendon elongation records submitted by the project inspector. In other words, we will only need to rent the shoring until approximately 5 to 6 working days after the final 5th level concrete placement.
(We assume that if we place the slab on a Friday, we will be able to finish stressing the PT by end of the day on Monday. That leaves 2 to 3 days to strip, clean, and bundle the formwork materials for shipment out on Friday. Hence the 5 to 6 working day duration).
Obviously, we wish to return all rented formwork items just as soon as possible after they have been removed, cleaned and bundled. But despite what our foreman is saying, we just noticed there is a clause in the formwork specifications that states "All formed slabs must be reshored for 30 days".
This seems to be a blanket requirement, since it does not distinguish between non-PT and PT slab construction. This is a public works job, and we want to understand the risks. How would you recommend we proceed?
Answer: Good question. This one is slightly complicated because the formwork engineer works for the formwork rental company, which you have not yet hired. One possible way forward, in this case, is to prepare and submit a pre-bid RFI. Here's why.
On most PT projects, the top-most PT concrete slabs do not require reshoring after the PT has been stressed. (This is something that the formwork designer will have to confirm by calculation after inspecting the construction documents-- particularly the structural drawings--and Division 3 specifications). The theory is that if the slab concrete can take the PT stressing loads, then--at that point--the slab is its own self-supporting structure, and shoring supports are no longer needed to support the slab.
The clause in your specifications described above regarding the requirement for reshores to be placed under all slabs for 30 days is a conservative requirement-- likely based on non-PT slabs-- and probably appears in your specifications due to cut-and-paste by the design team from a previous project. This requirement does not consider the in-situ strength of the concrete--it is based purely on calendar days of shoring in place. The risk to you--both in terms of Safety and in terms of dollars--lies in proceeding with the bid without getting this clarified by the structural engineer.
Suggest you submit a pre-bid RFI as follows: "The project specifications require that all elevated slabs be reshored for 30 days after concrete placement. Please confirm that this restriction does not apply to the 5th level PT slab."
This way, if the engineer is going to enforce the 30-day rule for the upper-most PT slab, all bidders will be informed and can carry the "extra" rental costs to suit.
Another option is to ask the formwork rental bidders to prepare a base quote assuming the rental period ends about a week after the 5th level PT has been stressed as described above. Then ask the formwork rental company to include an "alternate add" line item in their price quote to keep the shoring in place for the extra time--approximately 3 weeks or so of rental.
It would also be a good idea to remind your customer that--once you have removed the shoring from the topmost slab areas--dead load deflections and any construction loads placed on the slabs by follow-on trades are not your responsibility.