Removable Forms

A Ransonville, New York-based construction worker has patented a new system for separating set concrete from forms – a system he says uses prybar-type leverage to save time and labor.

David Barto, who says he works many projects through his membership in Union Local 289, is seeking a manufacturer for the BartoBar – a concept he says he developed on a job site as he observed colleagues struggle with form removal.

“Wherever your pins go, you just set this tool into that, and it’s like a prybar, instead of going between the concrete and the form,” Barto said. “It’s safer. It works on leverage. It’s like having your foot close to the panel, and you use it to push it right off.”

Barto says his invention will reduce physical exertion needed to remove forms, thus reducing the likelihood of job-site injuries, and results in less damage to concrete and to forms.

Barto said companies interested in contracting to manufacture the product should contact him at 716.754.4491, or e-mail him at harleybart2000@verizon.net.

The National Standards Development Committee of the Portland Cement Association (PCA) has approved the first PCA standard utilizing the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accredited voluntary consensus process.

The new standard, PCA 100-07, “Prescriptive Method for Design and Construction of Residential Concrete Walls”, facilitates the use of cast-in-place concrete wall systems built with either removable or stay-in-place forms, such as insulating concrete forms (ICFs). It applies to the construction of detached one-and-two family dwellings.

PCA 100-07 provides a simplified approach for the design and construction of cast-in-place concrete foundation and above-grade exterior walls. It is based on the requirements of ASCE 7-05, “Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures”, ACI 318-05, “Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete” and test results.

PCA anticipates that the standard will be referenced in the 2009 edition of the “International Residential Code for One-and-Two Family Dwellings” (IRC), and will be available from PCA by the end of the year.

Concrete contractors developing the new Art Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan built 177 custom plywood forms at a construction-site millwork shop to complete the project.

Shane Napper, the project manager from Grand Rapids-based Rockford Construction, said the custom plywood forms were developed by concrete subcontractor Grand River Construction of Hudsonville.

“We put in the parking structure that’s below the building first,” Napper said. “And we put in a full millwork shop on site. It’s almost like a waler system. The forms were all wood with tie rods through them.”

Los Angeles-based architect Kulapat Yantrasast of wHY Architecture Inc. designed the building.

The 125,000 square-foot concrete and glass building is organized around a central pavilion of glass and light-colored concrete flanked by a reflecting pool, a pocket park with a water wall and open-air sculpture and dining courtyards. The three-floor gallery wing will feature glass skylight lanterns which admit natural light into the space, and which will illuminate the building at night. In addition to its galleries, the building design includes a multi-use, flexible seating auditorium, education center, art reference library, café, museum shop and conference and study rooms.

Housing starts bumped up slightly in April while new building permits dropped to the slowest pace since June 1997, according to figures released by the Commerce Department. Housing starts increased 2.5 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.528 million units, following downward Commerce Department revisions for the two previous months. Starts were down 16.1 percent from a year earlier. Building permits, a more reliable indicator of housing construction activity, dropped 8.9 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.429 million units. Permits were down 28.1 percent from a year earlier. Starts of new single-family homes were up 1.6 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.225 million units. The pace was 18.9 percent below a year earlier. Multifamily housing construction increased 6.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 303,000 units for the month, a 2.6 percent decrease from April 2006.

Single-family permit issuance was down 6.0 percent to a pace of 1.063 million units for the month. This was 28.8 percent below a year earlier. The pace of multifamily permit issuance dropped 16.4 percent to 366,000 units for the month. This was 26.1 percent below the April 2006 pace.