Concrete Is Losing on Cost. Here’s How to Take It Back. Concrete keeps getting priced out of jobs, not because it can’t compete, but because we keep doing the same things the same way. In this episode, Seth Tandett sits down with Rich Szecsy to talk about where concrete costs…
Digital formwork isn’t just about concrete. It allows concrete and millwork to be designed separately, built in different factories, and still fit together on site with precision.
Boards and aluminum forms are physical. Digital formwork lives as data — and that changes what’s possible, what’s repeatable, and what you can recreate years later.
A 12-foot concrete fire pit sounds simple — until you factor in stem walls and gas lines. This 3D printed, hollow design eliminated both and simplified the entire install.
Square. Rectangular. Hard edges everywhere. There’s a reason most concrete columns look identical — and it has nothing to do with engineering limits.
Not everything should be 3D printed. Darren Baldwin explains when precast and cast-in-place are still the right answer — and when unique geometry changes the equation.
Most concrete looks the way it does for one simple reason. We keep designing around the forms we know how to build. In this episode, Seth sits down with Darren Baldwin, President of PIKUS, to break down the real difference between analog formwork and digital formwork—and why that distinction quietly…
Most concrete looks the way it does for one simple reason. We keep designing around the forms we know how to build. In this episode, Seth sits down with Darren Baldwin, President of PIKUS, to break down the real difference between analog formwork and digital formwork—and why that distinction quietly…
Higher floors had more moisture than lower ones. That alone tells you it isn’t coming from the soil.
In building science, moisture isn’t just “wet or dry.” It shows up in multiple forms, and each one affects buildings differently.
Even in a controlled lab with proper curing, concrete still lost about 20% of performance. The field doesn’t come close to those conditions.
Many vapor barriers are gone long before the slab reaches mid-life. Recycled plastics, soil salts, and weak quality control break them down faster than people realize.
Type 1L was marketed as a drop-in replacement. Same mixes. Same behavior. Same results. That story didn’t hold up for long.
Diffusion and moisture migration are not the same thing. Concrete isn’t an open system, and absorbed moisture doesn’t follow simple rules.
The middle of concrete stays adiabatic. No temperature change. No moisture movement. That breaks a lot of assumptions.
Most people think moisture problems in concrete come from below the slab. Concrete Bob Higgins explains why that assumption keeps blowing up floors. In this episode, Bob Higgins breaks down how moisture actually moves through concrete, why liquid water and water vapor are not the same thing, and how alkalinity…
Most people think moisture problems in concrete come from below the slab. Concrete Bob Higgins explains why that assumption keeps blowing up floors. In this episode, Bob Higgins breaks down how moisture actually moves through concrete, why liquid water and water vapor are not the same thing, and how alkalinity…
Dr. Jon calls out one of the biggest misconceptions in the industry: What everyone calls “Portland Limestone Cement” isn’t actually Portland cement at all — it’s a blended cement with limestone in it. Once you start asking questions, the dominoes fall fast.
Bar charts only show one value — the average. Dr. Jon explains why that hides the real story, especially when compressive strength tests are run multiple times… or sometimes only once.
Dr. Jon explains why he hates “crunched” data and why the industry should focus on the raw numbers. When in doubt, start with the one dataset everyone understands: strength.
Dr. Jon explains why none of us naturally trust new mixes, new admixtures, or new materials — and why data is the only thing that moves people from “no” to “yes.” Data creates the narrative: what happened, why it happened, and what you should do next.
Dr. Jon explains how a simple normalization — dividing every 28-day strength by the control mix — can make concrete admixtures look way more effective than they really are. It’s the same trick Purdue Pharma used: change the frame, change the story.
Dr. Jon jokes that “men spend eight hours a day in the bathroom”… and proves how easy it is to make people believe anything once you put it on a chart. This is how bad data gets past smart people.
Dr. Jon explains one of Purdue Pharma’s biggest data tricks: they changed the timeframe so the absorption spikes disappeared. If you don’t look at the Y-axis, you miss everything.