Bruce Suprenant, Technical Director, The Voice Newsletter July 2019

310 Decorative Concrete, a joint ACI-ASCC committee currently chaired by Clark Branum of Diamatic USA, is best known for producing ACI 310R-13 “Guide to Decorative Concrete”. But subcommittee 310-0J, chaired by Pat Harrison of Structural Services Inc, and assisted by many CPC members, has developed a new document “Specification for Polished Concrete Slab Finishes”. This document is under review in July by ACI’s Technical Activities Committee (TAC). After TAC review, the committee will respond to comments, then send the specification out for public review. The committee then responds to public comments then specification is likely to be published in 2020.

In addition to assisting the joint ACI-ASCC committee in developing the specification, CPC is working on other items related to the document. Information on the specification, certification and gloss/haze data are provided below.

Specification—This is a Reference Specification that the Architect/Engineer can apply to any construction project involving polished concrete slab finishes by citing it in the Project Specifications. A mandatory requirements checklist and an optional requirements checklist are provided to assist the Architect/Engineer in supplementing the provisions of this Specification as required or needed by designating or specifying individual project requirements.

The first section of this Specification covers general requirements for polished concrete slab finishes. The second section covers requirements for products and equipment and the third section covers construction requirements. Provisions governing testing, evaluation, and acceptance of polished concrete slab finishes are included. This Specification for polished concrete slab finishes is applicable to both slabs‐on‐ground and suspended slabs.

Certification—The Specification requires the contractor to submit verification that a competent supervisor who is at the project during the specified work is certified as a CPC Craftsman or equivalent. The new online CPC Tradesman and Craftsman Certification program was launched in May 2019 to address this specification requirement.

Gloss and Haze Data—The Specification also requires testing of specular gloss, Distinction of Image (DOI) and haze at least two weeks prior to Owner’s possession. CPC has been collecting and analyzing data on various projects over the last year to recommend specification values for the ACI-ASCC Specification. That work should be completed prior to public review of the ACI-ASCC Specification. CPC will provide the information directly to the ACI-ASCC committee and also at public review.

We want to recognize the efforts of our CPC members in the development of the Specification, review of the CPC Certification Program and providing gloss/haze data for evaluation.