By the time the drum arrived on the jobsite, the Realm Construction team had prepared the first section of the pour with forms, fabric, and reinforcement. Not knowing exactly how quickly the pours would go or how much progress they’d make, the team prepared 500 feet of forms.
Also onsite was a Takeuchi TL10 compact track loader that provided hydraulic power for the spinning drum, as well as a Telebelt telescopic belt conveyor to place the concrete. The team modified the conveyor to lay the concrete in front of the tube.
CONQUERING THE POUR
They began pouring the concrete—a MoDOT hand-finished paving mix with a predetermined slump calculation.
“We were allowed to go to 5-inch slump, but we aimed for a 3.5-inch slump because of the slope,” Stark says. “We had more of a problem getting it too wet, which is ok because we just let it dry out.”
The wet concrete problem—which can be common on projects like this—wasn’t the only issue during the first day of pouring.
“We got the flume all set up and moving it forward wasn’t a problem,” Stark says. “The only problem seemed to be related to the power source. The drum was binding up, but Kraig was on-site and he was determined to figure out a way to make it work efficiently.”
The team poured 60 yards and had to stop to address the power source.
“A very simple problem quickly became apparent,” Pyle says. “We had improperly sized the control valve to the upsized motor to handle the larger drum. This restriction in the smaller valve was causing the loader to overheat. A larger prototype valve we had in the works reduced the back pressure and restriction, alleviating the overheating that was happening.”
After Pyle figured out a solution for the power source issues, Stark and his team had to configure the dispersing of the material. This process presented its own set of issues.
“We tried placing the Telebelt chute right in front of the tube to move the material forward,” Stark says. “When it was right up against the tube like that, it ended up spraying the guys like crazy. We moved it ahead and found that the ideal spacing was about 6 feet ahead of the drum. This allowed the majority to be placed onto the bottom and the excess fed up onto the sides. Not only did this work better, but our guys were a lot happier because they didn’t go home looking like a sidewalk.”
Once everything was dialed in and set to the perfect speed, distance, and power, the Realm Construction team was on a roll. They poured 400-450 linear feet of concrete a day for the next 3 days, with virtually no roadblocks or issues. Despite the delays near the beginning of the project, they completed the project more than a week ahead of schedule.
SAVING TIME & EFFORT
By implementing the Curb Roller method instead of one of the traditional hand-pouring options, the crews finished early and spared themselves the physical fatigue that would have resulted from doing work on their hands and knees.
If the crews had done the whole project by hand, there would have been an increased potential for neck, knee, and back injuries along the way. Since concrete work is already a physically taxing job, Curb Roller Manufacturing specifically designs products to get workers off their hands and knees into a more comfortable concrete pulling position.
Running the Curb Roller drum involved two workers pulling and guiding the drum, a few guiding the concrete to the correct place, and a few finishing the concrete with channel mops. While the drum is designed to bring the “cream and fat” to the surface and push aggregate down, it still required a final hand screed to seal the concrete.
By completing the project in essentially three pours, the team was not only able to save time and physical labor, they also created a higher-quality product. With a traditional method and many sections of concrete pours, dowels would have been required in each bay to tie them back to one another. While incorporating dowels creates a sturdy project, it’s certainly not as uniform or smooth as the three-pour approach with the Curb Roller.
“If they’d done this by hand, the quality and consistency go way down,” Daulton says. “Since they did it in three large pours, it created a monolithic, uniform product.”
SAVINGS UPON SAVINGS
With a traditional method, the process could have cost roughly $60,000 in labor. On a 15-day project with a 10-man crew costing roughly $400/day per worker, the cost is significant. With the same calculations on the Curb Roller 6-day custom drum method, the labor cost equates to roughly $24,000—a 40-percent savings in cost and more than 720 hours of saved man-power.
While there were additional costs throughout the project—purchasing the custom drum, renting the Telebelt, etc.—Stark says they still ended up under budget on the project.
QUITE THE SIGHT
On a stand-out project such as this, it’s no surprise that everyone involved was curious about the process. Workers, supervisors, and even those driving by were spotted taking photos or video of the impressive setup. All of the contractors, manufacturers and MoDOT people involved kept a close eye on the project and were impressed with the equipment throughout.
“This was a real partnership, and we were more than pleased with the end result,” Daulton says. “We’ve worked with Realm Construction in the past, so I trust their judgement when Russ says he had a new idea. We got a better final product, and they were able to decrease their cost and share some of that with us.”
The MoDOT maintenance team perhaps benefits most from the final product, since it makes their cleanup efforts a much simpler job. The team uses a skid steer to clear the ditch after every significant rainfall, and best of all it doesn’t require any lane closure or traffic disruption.
CLOSING THOUGHT
for more information:
Curb Roller Manufacturing has been the world leader in shaped concrete roller screeds for more than 10 years. With high-quality products for everyday concrete work, Curb Roller’s ergonomic machines make it easy to shape standard curb, gutter, and sidewalks, flume, v-gutter, swale, and other unique shapes. For more, visit www.curbroller.com.
Modern Contractor Solutions, September 2020
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The project showcased everyone’s ingenuity; it highlighted MoDOT’s judgement, the contractor’s ability to think outside the box, and the manufacturer’s high-quality product. All parties agree, this project was a win-win-win.