Overlays were born in the modern era out of necessity.1 When concrete needed to be refurbished and restored, but could not be elevated to the decorative concrete status, another material was needed to fill...

The face of mid-rise construction may well be changing in Canada. In British Columbia, about 285 wood-frame mid-rise buildings have been built or are under construction, and the trend is moving east as six-storey...

There is a great deal of confusion in the world of flat concrete floor surfaces. On one side of the discussion are the people who place concrete floors—the concrete floor finishers.

Just as important as any other element in a construction project, the selection of the right formwork greatly affects the project’s schedule, labour requirements, quality, and total cost. Over the years, formwork moulds have...

Researchers from Universiti Teknologi MARA in Selangor, Malaysia, discovered sewer sludge is a potential alternative cement material for making concrete. Kartini Kamaruddin and her team produced domestic waste sludge powder (DWSP) by drying and...



Canada’s building codes have historically been formulated, at least in part, based on accumulated historic climate data that ultimately provides the essential criteria for most key building component performance characteristics. However, there are indications...

The American Concrete Institute (ACI) awarded Ahmad (Amir) Shahroodi, a student at the University of Ottawa, for his paper on non-destructive testing (NDT) of concrete structures. Shahroodi, who is working toward his doctorate in...