Concrete Prices Update! - Concrete Pricing, Cement Pricing, Cement Prices, Concrete Prices and Houston, Concrete Prices, Concrete Costs, Current Concrete Costs, Price of Concrete

Recently, we were contacted by KTRC radio Station in regards to the nationwide
rising cost of concrete and cement costs.

"Apparently we're having a nationwide material shortage" Says the Director of the
Stamped Concrete Institute, David Hunt, "All the sand, Gravel and Portland Cement
is being brought in from all over the country to quench Houston's thirst for
Concrete".

The top exporters of cement to the United States are Canada, Thailand and,
ironically, China, according to the Portland Cement Association, a trade association
based in Skokie, Ill. But because of its growing domestic demand, China has sharply
curtailed its cement exports, the association said.

Concrete is vital in Houston Texas because home builders and ten of the nations
Largest Concrete Contractors in the U.S. are voracious consumers of it, using it for
Streets, Overpasses, foundation slabs, driveways and sidewalks. And Houston is
particularly vulnerable to shortages because it imports about 40 percent of its
cement compared with a nationwide average of 20 percent.

Many Concrete Plants are trying to lower their costs by "cutting" the concrete with
up to 20% fly ash, versus 100 % Pure Portland Cement.

Fly ash is a fine, glass-like powder recovered from gases created by coal-fired
electric power generation. U.S. power plants produce millions of tons of fly ash
annually, which is usually dumped in landfills. Fly ash is an inexpensive replacement
for portland cement used in concrete, while it actually improves strength,
segregation, and ease of pumping of the concrete. Fly ash is also used as an
ingredient in brick, block, paving, and structural fills.

There is an abundance of Radioactive Elements in Coal and Fly Ash says the U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS)

"Assessment of the radiation exposure from coal burning is critically dependent on
the concentration of radioactive elements in coal and in the fly ash that remains
after combustion."

Data for uranium and thorium content in coal is available from the U.S. Geological
Survey (USGS), which maintains the largest database of infor-mation on the
chemical composition of U.S. coal

For this reason, We at ConcreteForever.com buy our Concrete From Metro
Concrete in Houston because they do not use this radiocactive substance that is
being currently tested for long term effects.

A draft summary of the courthouse project released Oct. 12 by city officials
estimated rising concrete and steel prices added $10 million to $15 million to the
cost of the CourtHouse project. But no numbers have been released to support
those estimates, nor is there a breakdown of how much was originally budgeted for
concrete, steel and other construction materials.

To build the courthouse today, steel and concrete would cost $10.1 million, or 4.5
percent of the $232 million budget. But that $10.1 million does not come close to
explaining the additional $36 million that Mayor John Peyton told City Council
members last November would be needed to complete the courthouse complex.

City officials now say concrete and steel were not the only construction materials to
rise in price.

"It's misspeaking to say it's just steel and concrete [driving costs up]. It's other
construction materials as well," said David Martinez, general contractor for the city.

In the last year, costs for cement have increased 16.8 percent; asphalt, 6.2 percent;
ductile iron pipe, 15.4 percent; corrugated steel pipe, 11.5 percent; reinforced
concrete pipe, 5.8 percent; PVC water pipe, 16.8 percent; lumber, 16.3 percent;
reinforcing bar, 47.9 percent; aluminum sheet 6.7 percent and stainless steel sheet,
19.4 percent, according to an Dec. 17 news release by the Concrete Prices News
Record.

But the city has not provided any estimates of extra costs of materials needed for
the courthouse project, other than steel and concrete.

To build the new Duval County Courthouse, 5,700 tons of structural steel and 3,024
tons of reinforcing steel are needed. In addition to that, 47,000 cubic yards of
concrete are needed, said Brian Murray, vice president of Skanska USA Building
Inc. and project director for the courthouse complex.

Steel costs about $648 a ton, said Tom Cusick, a former administrator at Bethlehem
Steel Co. That equates to $3.7 million for the courthouse. Reinforcing steel costs
about $900 a ton, or $2.7 million, Murray said. And concrete, according to the Dec.
21 release by the Engineering News Record, costs, on average $88.31 per cubic
yard, or $3.6 million.

This page was updated on Saturday, December 17, 2008 at 11:14:53 GMT