Quality Concrete from Simple Tools

A Cure For The World’s Poorest Construction

Solving the Concrete Crisis

For generations, Charitable Organizations have helped local populations recover from the devastation of floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes. At first they triage and treat the immediate medical needs of the victims and establish an improved level of comfort for the suffering. These efforts save lives and improve the chances of a community to recover from the disaster.

The second phase is often less newsworthy, but equally important. That is the phase where shelter, roads, water systems and other parts of the infrastructure are rebuilt. Organizations lend a hand directing the rebuilding efforts using local labor and local tools and methods. Unfortunately, in most cases, this has just rebuilt the substandard types of facilities that have been the victims of the most recent disaster.

By rebuilding dwellings, for example, using inconsistent construction methods, we are often merely setting

up a repeating cycle of devastation. This is most evident in concrete production. Most buildings are built with foundations or walls made of concrete and other cement products. Concrete is mixed by hand, on the ground, with little or no control of the quality of mix. The result is a building that is built on a foundation (and with walls) that will barely hold their own weight. By making simple changes to the quality of concrete construction, buildings can become real shelter instead of future hazards.

Weak concrete structures, susceptible to destruction, are weak for two reasons: Poor quality concrete and lack of reinforcing bar in the construction. The weak concrete affects all structures. The lack of rebar is most critical in larger and multiple story buildings.

In the past, getting quality concrete to typical under-developed sites has been either prohibitively expensive or physically limited by power costs. We can fix this…

Many Hands Can Make Poor Concrete

In many parts of the world a shovel and a ditch are the only concrete mixing solution. This crude mixing system, plus skimping on cement and adding too much water, leads to the issues that we all have witnessed in Haiti this past year.

It is understandable that this type of mixing has been adopted in poor communities where labor is cheap and codes are ignored or don’t exist. It is nearly impossible to produce consistent concrete using this method.

It is unfortunate and even tragic to rebuild a home using the same poor quality construction methods as before, and then loose it again during the next natural disaster.

The first step in producing a consistent concrete mix is to insert a mechanical version of the “mixing ditch” into the process.

The second is to accurately measure the materials that enter the mixer. A bucket is good, but a measured batch-box is better.

Cart-Away Concrete Systems, Inc is the world leader in creating small concrete batching solutions. We have adapted one of our proven mixing processes to build a mechanical version of the mixing ditch to solve the concrete issues in Haiti. This unit produces consistent mixes from a unique, yet simple batching process.

Using an engine-powered hydraulic system; the counter-rotating auger can replicate and improve upon the action of several shovels blending the raw materials at the same time. The difference is that there is a consistency of mixture that shovels cannot produce. Concrete needs uniform blending in order to produce a strong mixture.

Quality Concrete even with Shovels and Buckets.

By using simple recipes and consistent measuring, the Cart-Away Concrete M.D. (mixing ditch) will produce up to 1/2-meter batches of quality concrete, in even the most remote villages. And the mixer will work faster and produce better concrete than any other manual process.

The Concrete M.D. fits nicely into the common concrete production methods of the local Haitian workers. Their shovels will load the raw materials into the batch-boxes and their buckets will work for transporting the wet concrete to the forms.

The 6” dispensing tube at the bottom of the mixing chamber allows workers to rapidly pour wet concrete directly into buckets or wheelbarrows for transport to the forms. A simple door controls the flow between bucket loads.

The mixer can produce 3-meters of ready-mix concrete each hour and will employ several workers in loading and then delivering the finished concrete.

With the enormous volumes of concrete that must be produced in Haiti, we can put many people to work using Concrete M.D’s for building foundations, columns, walls, roofs and various building blocks. By decentralizing ready-mix production we can complete several smaller projects simultaneously and train many Haitians to make better concrete.

The Concrete M.D. can be the cure for many of the ills of poor concrete mixing.

The unit ships in a package that includes the Honda powered hydraulic power unit, two batch-buckets that are sized for a standard foundation/slab/wall recipe and complete operational instructions.

Final testing and introduction of this new mixer is scheduled for September 31st 2010.

Producing Better Concrete is our Goal

Cart-Away Concrete Systems is the leader in providing efficient tools to raise the standards of concrete production, without sacrificing the simplicity needed for remote locations. We have been producing these mixing solutions for over 17-years. The new Concrete M.D. meets the goal of rebuilding devastated communities using a combination of simple tools and our best engineering.

We propose that you join with us in providing better, more consistent concrete for Haiti. This can be accomplished in two steps:

1. Place Concrete M.D. mixers in the hands of Haitian construction workers to assist them in building back better homes and businesses.

2. Then leave the mixers behind in the hands of Haitian entrepreneurs to continue building strong concrete structures with the better tools.

We believe that getting these mixers into the hands of Haitian workers will speed the rebuilding efforts. We can fulfill the immediate need to rebuild today and then we can assist in continuing the process of building with better concrete in the future.

First, mixers need to be purchased as a program expense and then placed strategically around the country at various construction sites. Each mixer will include simple batching/mixing instructional materials that illustrate the value of producing consistently strong concrete, using proper mixing procedures.

One Concrete MD can supply concrete for about 5 or 6 homes per day and employ 6 to 8 Haitians to handle the mixing and dispensing duties. Finally, after the international aid organizations leave, the mixers can be left in the hands of Haitian entrepreneurs who can become the local ready-mix supplier and employer to their neighbors for years to come.

We can Build Better Concrete Cart-Away has many years of experience assisting with the start-up, training and implementation of small concrete enterprises. This experience could be adapted to the Haitian concrete training process to support the idea of rebuilding with more trustworthy concrete mixes.

Concrete is the most consumed product on earth, besides water. It is not hard to produce a simple concrete structure that will withstand earthquakes and other natural events. With just a few adjustments to their construction processes and with a better tool for mixing, developing nations can build homes, hospitals, churches and schools where they can confidently find safety from disaster.

We stand ready to be a part of the solution, and help the Haitian people to build back better with concrete. We hope that we can work with you to meet this objective. Sincerely, The Cart-Away Concrete Staff

1405 NE Alpha Dr. McMinnville, Oregon 97128 503-434-4444 www.cart-away.com

The CUBE alternative

The Cart-Away C.U.B.E. is a traditional drum mixer that includes an overhead loading conveyor. The CUBE has been working successfully for the past 4-years in many remote locations; from FEMA dam projects in the mountains, to resort construction in the Bahamas.

There is currently a CUBE working in Haiti to construct an orphanage and church by Builders International.

The CUBE conveyor will accept material loading by a skid-steer, a super-sack or by the hand-carry bucket. The mixing drum has a capacity of 1 cubic meter (1.5 Yards) and discharges by tilting the drum down to load tractor buckets or wheelbarrows. A CUBE, a tractor and 5-man team could support about 8 to 9 homes per day. The CUBE ships as a single unit with dimensions: 48”W x 78”H x 132”L Shipping weight: 3500# More details are available at www.concretecube.com