Clark Branum, Decorative & Polished Concrete Specialist The Voice Newsletter August 2023

Now that Summer is in full swing, it seems like our businesses are really starting to ramp up. Early in the season, it looked like projects were on hold and many contractors were reporting a slow start to the summer. With that comes new updates and workload for us on the development side of things. The CPC has published two new position statements in the last two months, one for surface repairs prior to polishing concrete, and the newest for polishing weak concrete surfaces, which will be published in this month’s issue of CI. With all the Type IL controversy, the timing is perfect. Other documents that will be coming out soon are updated aggregate exposure and polished concrete appearance charts, which have been revised to reflect current industry standards including ACI-310.1 specification for polished concrete. ACI 310 Decorative Concrete Guide Committee is working closely with the CPC to develop a new standard and criteria for measuring polished concrete flooring. This will be a new standard that currently does not exist. Most people test according to their own methodology and practices, and some don’t measure at all unless it is mandated in a specification. ACI-310.1 specification gives some guidance for measurables, but there is no specific industry standard that has been published as a reference. Hopefully, that will change soon with the newest revision of the 310 document. Next up is the ASCC Annual Conference in September, I’m sure the others will write more about that in their newsletter articles, so I’ll just say that as a new ACI examiner, I’m excited to preside over the Decorative Concrete Flatwork Exam during the conference. Be sure to register soon and I hope to see all of you there!