[TowerTalk] FW: concrete

[Roger (K8RI) on TT]

On 11/3/2013 12:55 AM, Al Kozakiewicz wrote:
>> On 11/1/2013 6:24 PM, KM5VI wrote:
>> Since then, the price of concrete has skyrocketed. While I haven't checked recently it was over 3 times what I paid and I have no reason to believe it dropped any.  Steel has come down >some, but not a lot. Why concrete went so high I don't know.
IIRC I only paid $30 some dollars a yard for the high strength mix with 
high fiber. We poured 4" over 1" Styrofoam for the shop floor. For what 
we used on the guyed tower, rerod wasn't even needed.  As
I understand, the high strength mix (without the fiber) is over a $100 a 
yard now.  Steel almost doubled, but that apparently has dropped to 
about a 50% increase over what I paid.  As I buy from industrial 
suppliers it's typically priced by the pound.  OTOH  I used to use lots 
of steel freely to experiment and do projects.  I'm a bit more frugal 
with the stuff now<:-))  My hutches/shelving for the ham stations is 
pretty much, welded, square tubing with a plywood overlay and veneer 
fascia.  Those mitered corners are interesting...particularly so they 
are solid, but don't require a lot of grinding to make flush.


> Energy costs.  Everything about concrete manufacturing consumes significant amounts of energy.  Mining the limestone, transportation, calcination (kiln @1500C), grinding, more transportation, mining gravel and sand, yet more transportation,  raw material handling, mixing, and final transportation to the job site.
Around here, energy seems to be about the same although diesel fuel 
prices are quite unstable.  Natural gas and electricity are cheap

73

Roger (K8RI)


> Al
> AB2ZY
>