Concrete Products covers the issues that attract producers of ready mixed and manufactured concrete focusing on equipment and material technology, market development and management topics.
Issue link: http://concrete.epubxp.com/i/75186
FINAL FORM PRECAST RCC system fortifies coastal homes The homes in the 50-acre Turtle Creek subdivision in Gulf- port, Miss., are being promoted as built with "poured 5,000-psi concrete and polystyrene to produce buildings ca- pable of withstanding Category 5 hurricane winds." Origi- nally, Royal Concrete Concepts (RCC) reached an agreement to sell 248 of its concrete modular homes through its Biloxi, Miss.-based distributor, Concrete Building Concepts, for the new development. However, after completing four modular homes the subdivision evolved to using precast concrete wall panels from RCC, West Palm Beach, Fla. According to Clay Gutierrez of Concrete Building Concepts, "The wall homes are a better fit for [Turtle Creek] because the system is less expensive and allows more flexibility for style and meeting market requirements. For example, we were having to sell the modular homes for $130 a square foot and [they] did not have garages, and had limited storage and no attic space. We are actually competing with wood construc- tion at [Turtle Creek] from $90 to $110 a square foot includ- ing the lot. The mods are basically over built for the application at this location and market preferences are more easily accommodated with the hybrid wall system." The wall system is manufactured at RCC's Okeechobee, Fla., plant and delivered by truck to Gulfport. The construction process of a wall system house consists of pouring a slab at grade, erecting the walls and strapping an engineered roof truss system to the top of the walls. The roof truss system satisfies the uplift requirement needed for a MS semi-wind resistive rating. Compared to the modular units that were set up and completed in seven to 10 days, the wall system homes take about 60 to 90 days. Funding for the project was provided by the Hurricane Ka- trina Community Development Block Grant. Homes in the Tur- tle Creek subdivision range from the mid $120s to $200,000, and have a more traditional look with 6/12 pitched roofs, garages, and lots of curb appeal. By the end of June, there were a total of 27 homes built or in the process of being built in the Turtle Creek Subdivision. Concrete Building Concepts use precast wall panels from RCC to build virtually hurricane-resistant homes. The original concept was to build concrete modular homes in Turtle Creek (four were built); now, a hybrid wall system is used. 80 | JULY 2012 WWW.CONCRETEPRODUCTS.COM