In this episode of Precast Chalk Talk, President Hagen Harker shares information about our new Double Tee Beam form in Browntown, Wisc.
Questions? Comments? Ideas for a future episode? Comment below!
How Precast Meets the Needs of Institutions
Institutions are an integral part of society and often help serve many members of the communities that surround them. Because they are an important component of making citizens’ lives easier, it’s important to institutions that they remain open and accessible. Institutions built with precast can be erected quicker, more efficiently, and provide long lasting structures that require limited future maintenance.
Types of Institutions
Precast has been used to construct various types of institutional facilities including:
Justice and Correctional Facilities
Government/Public Facilities
Military Facilities
Healthcare Facilities
High-Tech and Laboratory Facilities
How precast can help
Quicker Erection Times
Institutions have to remain open so the services they provide can be available to those who need it most. Precast can be delivered and erected quickly on site reducing construction schedules and meeting accelerated project schedules. This also means that institutions that need to be closed for renovations or updates can expect to be operational in a shorter amount of time.Safer for Occupants
Institutions are oftentimes places of safe haven for members of the surrounding community. Precast institutional structures can be designed for several purposes including acting as storm shelters in areas prone to extreme weather. Precast concrete is also inherently blast, fire, and seismic resistant making it one of the best construction materials to build facilities needed to protect occupants.Limited Maintenance
Because precast is a long-lasting, high performance material, institutions who choose precast for their structures can rest assured knowing they have built their facilities from a durable product that will last decades. Precast facilities require less maintenance in the long run, which means less time closing for renovations and more time serving local communities.Produced Offsite in a Quality-Controlled Environment
Precast concrete is produced in offsite manufacturing facilities in quality-controlled environments and held to the highest of standards. PCI producers have been certified by PCI to ensure they are producing the highest quality precast components for all projects.
Institutional projects can use precast to meet their high performance goals. Precast concrete integrates easily with other systems and inherently provides the versatility, efficiency, and resiliency needed to meet the multi-hazard requirements and long-term demands of institutional facilities.
CarbonCast Wall Panels: A Versatile Rain Barrier
Today - March 20, 2025 - marks the first official day of Spring. With it comes warmer weather… and (probably) lots of rain.
Water has the unfortunate habit of getting where building owners don’t want it to go. Once water gets in a building, it has the potential to do significant damage.
Architects often ask if precast walls can be designed as a rain screen or drained system. They can. However, because they provide superior resistance to rain penetration and air leakage, they are often used as a rain barrier. In fact, using the drained approach with precast wall panels can introduce risk that water may damage the panel’s structural connections. Why entertain that risk? Design for the sure solution.
CarbonCast High Performance Insulated Wall Panels, like most precast wall panels, are strong enough to withstand high winds and wind-driven projectiles, hurricanes, and wildfires when properly installed to code and maintained. They are also impermeable to air infiltration and wind-driven rain. The high tensile strength of reinforced concrete combined with proper compaction imbues the material with the capacity to withstand storms and render it resistant to wind-driven rain and moist outdoor air in hot and humid climates. In many cases, this strength is enhanced through prestressing.
As a member of AltusGroup, an international organization dedicated to precast innovation powered by collaboration, we are proud to offer CarbonCast High Performance Insulated Wall Panels to our customers.
Learn more about wall panels as a rain barrier in this Technical Brief from AltusGroup.
To discuss your upcoming project needs, please contact our sales team today!
Precast Chalk Talk: Episode 65
In this episode of Precast Chalk Talk, President Hagen Harker continues his visit to a jobsite in Dousman, Wisc., chatting with Foreman Adam Smith about the various connections and detail work on this project featuring beams, columns, and hollow core plank.
Questions? Comments? Ideas for a future episode? Comment below!
Book a Precast Roundtable Today
Image by sentavio on Freepik.
One of the things we pride ourselves on at Mid-States Concrete Industries is living up to our World-Changing Behaviors.
These World-Changing Behaviors include: safety before all else; YES! attitude; be candid; put yourself in someone else’s shoes; practice the four referrability habits, which are show up on time, do what you say you are going to do, finish what you start, and say please and thank you; and be a little weird!
While we practice all of these World-Changing Behaviors, we really (really, really) show up for the “be a little weird!” part. So, it should come as no surprise that in addition to the typical Lunch and Learn program, we also offer Precast Roundtables.
Precast Roundtables offer an opportunity for an open, free-flowing dialogue between your team and our team of precast experts. Roundtables can be scheduled for 60-90 minutes, depending on the needs of your team. Prior to scheduling a Roundtable, a member of our team will have a conversation with the organizer to discuss the objectives of the Roundtable, including topics to cover, attendees, and your amount of experience working with precast. From that discussion, we’ll tailor our presentation materials and discussion to your needs.
From planning and estimating to design and engineering, manufacturing, project management and construction, Mid-States Concrete offers a one-stop shop for your precast needs… and nearly 80 years of experience!
Our goal is to give you the information you need to make the best decision for your upcoming projects. When you partner with Mid-States Concrete for your precast project, we’re with you every step of the way. Your project is a big deal. It’s why we work so hard to help ensure your project not only begins successfully, but is completed successfully as well.
If you are interested in having Mid-States Concrete host a Roundtable for your team, please contact us at sales@msprecast.com. We’d love to get a date on the calendar.