EICI is awarded jointly by the Construction Specifications Institute and Specification Consultants in Independent Practice to recognize excellence, originality or creativity in processes, tools, or documents used in development or construction of the built environment. Davis Colors was recognized in the Award's Product Documentation category.
The nomination submittal explains that:
Integral colorants for concrete can be specified in a single sentence: "Use pigments complying with ASTM C979 to match concrete color to [INSERT COLOR DESCRIPTOR]." Indeed, many project specifications and even some commercial master specifications have no more than this to say about integral coloring. This terse instruction may be suitable for outline or short form specification, but is silent about colors of cementitious materials and aggregates, uniformity of water to cementitious material ratio, curing and finishing techniques, mock‐ups and other administrative concerns, and other criteria that affect appearance of integrally colored concrete.The award will be presented during the CSI convention at CONSTRUCT 2012 Expo in Phoenix this September. This is the third EICI Award received by Chusid Associates. Click here to read about previous awards.
In the decade since Davis Colors first published guide specifications for integrally colored concrete, their documents became obsolete due to changes in CSI formats, revisions to industry standards, increased environmental concerns, new concrete finishing and curing techniques, changes in the manufacturer’s product line, and the constant evolution of construction practices. When Davis Colors decided to update their guide specs in 2011, the documents required complete rewriting and not just revision.
The company and its specifications consultant [Chusid Associates] determined that a single guide specification section would be impractical due to the complexities of different concrete work results; each required an individually considered approach to be of most benefit to specifiers. The following five sections have now been written and will soon be downloadable in word processing format at www.DavisColors.com:
SECTION 03 35 19 – INTEGRALLY COLORED CONCRETE FINISHING: This document can be used as a narrowscope section in conjunction with other sections specifying site‐cast concrete work and paving, or as a source of provisions that can be copied into broadscope sections.
SECTION 03 45 00 – COLORED ARCHITECTURAL PRECAST CONCRETE: This document suggests modifications that can be copied into Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute’s (PCI) Guide Specification for Architectural Precast Concrete if necessary to augment PCI’s standard language.
SECTION 03 47 13 – COLORED TILT‐UP CONCRETE: This document suggests modifications that can be copied into Tilt‐Up Concrete Association (TCA) Guideline Specifications, TCA Document 04‐02 if necessary to augment TCA’s standard language.
SECTION 04 05 13 – COLORS FOR MASONRY MORTARING: Mortar has a pronounced effect on the appearance of masonry as it forms as much as 20% of the surface of brick walls. Provisions from this guide specification can be copied into a masonry section as required.
SECTION 04 20 00 – COLORED CONCRETE MASONRY UNITS: In addition to language about colorants and color selection, this guide specification section calls attention to cleaning techniques and other requirements that are different for colored CMU than for uncolored CMU.
In each guide specification section, an effort was made to comply with CSI formats and principles, and to include specifier notes to support the specifier’s decision‐making process. The guide specifications supplement and are coordinated with the manufacturer’s existing data sheets, color cards, installation instructions, and other technical literature.