Recycled Concrete Update

"We are committed to witness through the good quality of our work and careful stewardship of our resources."

-From the Statement of Values of the Appalachia Service Project

The first week of work on the recycled concrete project is over, and I have an update. First of all, I need to re-issue the formula. Finally, here's the formula for making one cubic foot of concrete from recycled concrete aggregate.

To Make One Cubic Foot of Concrete From Recycled Concrete Aggregate
(combine these ingredients)

Ingredient	Volume	Weight	"Density"
	(Cubic Feet)	(Pounds)	(Pounds per Cubic Foot)
Cement:	0.14	13.16	94
Water:	0.12	7.44	62
Coarse Aggregate: (gravel)	0.39	46.8	120
Fine Aggregate: (sand)	0.35	35	100

Now, it seems obvious that this is a great idea which will help to preserve our natural environment while cutting costs, but we mustn't be hasty and presumptuous environmentalists. For this purpose, a cost-benefit analysis is necessary.

To make one cubic foot of concrete using Quickrete ready-mix bags costs $7.42.
To make one cubic foot of concrete using the recycled concrete method costs $1.32.

This is based on using 80-pound bags of Quickrete at $4.45 per bag, and using 94-pound bags of Portland cement at $9.45 per pound. These are the prices at the ACE Citizens Building Supply store here in Bluefield, WV.

And if you consider that using recycled aggregate keeps 82 pounds of aggregate from going to the dump (per cubic foot of concrete needed), $1.91 is saved in dump fees. This assumes a dump fee rate of $46.75 per ton, which is the Mercer County Landfill fee.

If you include the cost of dumping the old concrete, making one cubic foot of concrete from Quickrete Ready-mix bags costs $9.33.

That makes for a savings factor of 705%, and a savings of $8.01 per cubic foot of concrete needed. On our project, where 16.5 cubic feet were needed, we saved a total of $132.12 by going with recycled concrete.

What's missing? Labor. Here at ASP, labor is free. This would obviously be a major contributing factor to the cost of recycled concrete for a non-volunteer organization. I have no way of telling how much extra labor we put into breaking up the concrete blocks as opposed to the labor of loading it into a truck and hauling it to a landfill. We used sledge hammers and digging poles (a.k.a. "God Rods") to smash the blocks, and a clothes hamper with 1/2" hardware cloth over it to separate the fine from the coarse aggregate. Another thing to consider is that on a larger site, pneumatic or hydraulic tools would typically be used to break up the concrete into aggregate. That might speed up the process.

Another major variation from the conventional recycled concrete process is that we used aggregate from broken-up concrete blocks (a.k.a. "cinder blocks") instead of breaking up reinforced concrete, which would have been too difficult without the help of pneumatic or hydraulic tools.

If you're curious as to the performance of the final product, I'm sorry to say that we don't have the facilities to do stress tests here at ASP. I'm not concerned, though, because our recycled concrete will be going into post-holes. I wouldn't recommend making a structural member from recycled concrete without testing it first.

Environmental Impact: Making concrete from recycled aggregate eliminates the need to mine gravel. Gravel quarries strip land of vegetation and habitat, allow sediment runoff into streams, and require lots of energy to extract the gravel. Loss of vegetation and use of carbon fuels is double-trouble for climate change (if you're into that kind of thing).

Finally, I would like to address the educational impact of our project. Using this simple, sustainable method of making concrete, we were able to teach volunteers and community members how to really "think green." I urge you to involve others when you do cool things. They may have helpful input. For example, I didn't come up with the specifics on how to break up blocks, but the volunteers came up with a great system for doing it, and for separating the coarse and fine aggregates. So take the time to grab the people around you and teach them.

And remember: "These things won't fix themselves, and most of them can't be fixed alone."

Environmental Challenge of the Week

Last Wednesday, I was honored to be a guest on Radioactive's morning talk show with host Craig Hammond. If you're in Bluefield, you can tune to 1440 AM in the mornings. A "tape" of Wednesday's show is below. I cut out the parts that don't involve me.

The host, Craig is a friend of mine these days. I go to his coffee house when I get a chance and we talk about whatever the local issue happens to be that morning. So I went on his show to represent ASP. I talked for a couple minutes about ASP--let people know who we are, what we're doing, and where they can go to fill out an application.

Then, for the next 10-15 minutes, the conversation turned to environmental issues. We talked and debated about "square foot gardening," wastewater treatment, stormwater treatment, and whatever else. It was a lot of fun to have a former mayor of Bluefield asking me questions like that on a radio show.

Anyway, while my laundry was drying at the laundromat this Saturday, I stopped in at Craig's coffee house "News and Brew." I proposed that I should call in every Monday with a new "Environmental Challenge of the Week." He loved the idea. So from now on, I'm going to call in at 9:15 AM and offer a new challenge each week. The challenge isn't just for the listeners, but for the guys in the studio as well. The first will be to use reusable coffee mugs instead of disposable. I will try to offer pertinent statistics and information. Here's how it will go:

• Americans consume more than 16 billion paper cups per year

• In 2006, paper cups accounted for 252 million pounds of garbage. This required 4 billion gallons of water, and 6.5 million trees, and enough energy to power over 50 thousand homes

What about coffee cups from recycled paper? FDA regulations are very strict when it comes to beverages coming in contact with recycled paper, and recycled paper is too flimsy of a material to retain the liquid. Starbucks tried to manufacture a recycled paper cup, but was unable to succeed.

Alternatives? One sustainability engineer concluded that after 24 uses, a stainless steel mug is as environmentally friendly as using paper cups.

Is environmentalism expensive? No...a study done in 2000 showed that Starbucks could save $1 million dollars per year by switching to reusable cups.

So my challenge to you this week is to bring your reusable mug or travel mug next time you go to the Hardee's, or to your favorite coffee shop.

References: Sustainability Is Sexy (.com)
All references are detailed on the site

These posts can be found on their own site: http://bfenvrionmentalchallenge.blogspot.com/

"Green" ASP?

I'm an environmental engineer, but that doesn't necessarily make me feel like an environmentalist. What I'm about to tell you does.

Here at ASP, we care about our environment. That's why we're replacing unsafe concrete and block steps with new steps, using the old block as aggregate for the new concrete, which will hold the new posts in place. The design for this concrete was based on Minnesota DOT's numbers, found here. The numbers have been rounded a lot, since the new concrete will serve less of a structural purpose, and more of a filling or stabilizing purpose. Also, the volunteers probably won't be very precise in their measurements anyway.

For 6x6 post-holes, 1.85 cubic feet (cf) of concrete will be needed. With 4 6x6 posts, we will need about 7.5 cf of concrete. The amounts of each ingredient needed to make 7.5 cf of concrete are shown below. Nevermind the fact that it adds up to more than 7.5. Call it a safety factor. The same ratios are used for the 4x4 post holes, but in different amounts.

	cf	lb	Spec Gravity (pcf)
Cement	1.4	130	94
Water	1.1	70	62
Coarse Agg.	3.8	450	120
Fine Agg.	3.3	330	100

The volunteers are being instructed to "disassemble" the existing steps, and break up the concrete blocks into coarse and fine aggregate piles. We'll give them the cement and the rest is history. We'll see how it goes, and I'll try to check in with the family as to the concrete's performance some time later down the line.

All photos in this post were taken by Robyn Rosner.

Week 1 Davids and Goliaths

The first week of construction is complete. The theme was "surprises." We had spent the previous week selecting homes, formulating solutions, and signing contracts. I pulled building permits on all of the homes within Bluefield city limits. In week 1, we introduced the first wave of volunteers to their families, and to the projects that they would be doing.

Monday morning, I shared a devotional with all of the volunteers before breakfast. I shared a verse which was written on a Salvation Army poster on a wall in our building. It's from Samuel 1, and it goes something like "David, God's chosen one, picked up five stones from a nearby stream, and put them into his bag. And armed only with his shepherd's staff and sling, he started across the valley to fight."

I explained that sometimes it felt like I was one of those stones--that I was being hurled at a Goliath of a problem. But another way to look at it was that they (the volunteers) are the stones, and that we are David, hurling them at problems which seem like giants. Their Goliaths could be the difficult construction that we ask them to do, or they could be in the interactions that they have with their group, or with their family. Whatever form he comes in, you are sure to encounter at least one Goliath in an ASP volunteer week.

A few heads nodded, but I got the idea that my analogy didn't really catch.

One project that I was managing that week had looked to be a challenging one. The roof was a 10/12 pitch [See diagram below]. It appeared that a few of the rafters were partially rotted, and that we would need to reinforce them by "sistering." Nothing we can't work with, though.


On Monday morning, this all changed when the volunteers removed a piece of plaster, and three wall studs came off with it. By lunch time, this phenomenon had occurred several times, and the group's leader, who was a contractor in real life was all but convinced that we would have to pull off the house. It's not that he didn't want to pull off the house, but he knew that since we had removed the plaster, and incidentally some of the studs, we couldn't simply stop the work.

Around mid-day, Todd and I showed up to check on the construction, and found the work crew and house in the above-described situation. I stumbled over methods for temporary stabilization, kickers, walls, braces, posts, etc. Todd, my first-year staffer who doesn't have any experience in home construction, but who is a first-year grad student in architecture came up with an excellent solution, which was eventually implemented. We would put a 6x6 post on the corner of the house, and frame out new walls, so that we wouldn't have to remove any old walls and risk collapse. This was to be supported with a large footer underground, which would also directly support some rotted floor joists.

This was a great idea, but the group was still very uneasy about doing anything with the house in such an unstable state. Luckily, our construction consultant was showing up Tuesday, so we decided to have him spend all day at the site. I was also to join the crew for most of the day.

Tuesday's work was very productive. We installed temporary walls, and developed a plan for installing the 6x6 post, and eventually for reinforcing the entire system without removing anything.

By Thursday, the post was in, and everything was solid. Friday was spent "suring" everything up, and developing a plan for the next week's volunteers. This week, there are two crews at the house. One is re-decking and re-shingling the first quadrant, and the other is duplicating the previous week's work, but on another corner of the house. At this rate, it looks like we may be able to complete the entire roof, which would certainly be an incredible feat for teams of unskilled volunteers in seven weeks (not counting time for fellowship and family interaction and love).

On Monday, the group had met its Goliath. But Tuesday, it was overcome. It was really an incredible experience for all involved. I at least learned that it takes all types of people to solve the mixed up mangled and troubling problems of the world (and of Bluefield). I certainly couldn't have done that alone, and the volunteer group couldn't have done it without the encouragement and expertise of our construction consultant. These things won't fix themselves, and most of them can't be fixed alone.

Setup Week

Thursday of "Setup Week"
Bluefield, WV

We only have a couple days until the first volunteers arrive. We are feeling optimistic. We have selected 9 homes to work on, which will accommodate the 9 work crews coming Sunday. We "signed" 5 of them today, meaning that we went over the work agreement form, and got information to pull city building permits. Tonight we hashed out the details of the work on each of those five homes. It was painstakingly detailed. Four more to do tomorrow.

Not even one week in the county, and already some good stories are evolving. Let me first say that selecting homes is a very daunting task. As staffers, we are charged with allocating the thousands of dollars that volunteers bring in a way that serves the needs of the community, keeps volunteers safe, and is altogether manageable. Mostly, we are literally the answer to people's prayers. This is very literal. People pray for help with their home, and we are the incarnation of God's answer to that prayer. We are told this all the time.

Now think of the reverse. People pray for help with their home, we come and visit the house, then decide that it's an unmanageable project, or that we don't have the budget for it, or we already have enough projects. This also happens. As someone pointed out, we are still God's answer to their prayers. God's answer was "No." Those are the people we pray for.

So we go on many home visits. Some homes are ridiculous, such as "I need help with my grass," or "there are cracks in my sidewalk." Others are very challenging, like sure signs that there's serious drug abuse in the house. Then there are the families which are absolutely adorable. The little old lady that says she'd be grateful for anything, or even nothing but the visit you've paid her. Well the answer is obvious there: Fix the house. But what if the roof has a 10/12 pitch, and never-before-seen four-way symmetrical roof design on top of a huge two-story house? We're gonna need harnesses, and lots of bravery.

Real estate is apparently very cheap here. One family said they bought their house for $2,500. This house is a monster. Two floors, huge attic, basement, and incredible foundation and structure. I can't imagine what property taxes are. I think every house we're working on is two floors, or at least has a continuous foundation. Before coming to Bluefield, I had seen neither in Central Appalachia. We went to the mall today. A very modern mall with all the modern trends. I guess the point is that the people that live here and elsewhere in Appalachia are not "our contemporary ancestors." This is the stereotype, and for the most part it's not true. Some things about it are true. Family-centered culture lives on, and going for a run or a bike ride seems a little out of place. But with West Virginia (the only state to be completely in Appalachia) setting a goal to have state-wide high-speed internet by 2010, you can hardly think of Appalachian people as "our contemporary ancestors."

I mentioned Craig Hammond and his radio show. He will come to our center next Monday to talk to our volunteers about local issues in poverty. This will really be an incredible help, since we have limited knowledge and can only teach the volunteers so much about real live local issues. We'll use his information in subsequent Monday night "Evening Gatherings."

I talked about Gary Bowling and his amazing House of Art. We haven't been there yet, or talked with him since last time.

County Visit Day

Staffs have been revealed, so I know who I'll be working with. Since then, we've decided who will do which position (food/finance/supplies/volunteer coordinator). Also, we've had some time to bond and discuss how we work and what we expect of each other. Good times. I will spare you the details of all of the unique personalities on my staff. Just believe me when I say that there are some characters.

I had a day to visit my county (appropriately named "County Visit Day"). I went to Bluefield and met with a few important people. I met with the manager of the building we'll be staying in, the hardware store folks, and a local aid organization. In my adventure, I stopped at a coffee house called "News and Brew." I thought it would be a good place to get a feel for the local political atmosphere, and I was right. I read the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, and also overheard a man who came in talking about what he had covered on his "show." Turns out he hosts a local talk radio show, and also heads the Bluefield Union Mission (which spells BUM). BUM is another organization I had planned on seeking out that day for the purpose of getting more information about local issues, which would give us the ability to mix some advocacy in with our usual programming with the volunteers.

After explaining who I am and what we do, Craig Hammond said he would love to come to our center a couple times in the summer and talk about local issues affecting poverty. He also said we should come on his show one morning to promote ASP and talk about what we do. We followed this with discussion of issues such as school closings and problems with reporting election results.

After I had finished all my meetings, I decided to do some exploring. So I checked out the City Park where our picnics will be held, and which is also the home of the Bluefield Orioles, the local baseball team in the Appalachian League, and the team with which Cal Ripken got his start!

I saw a visitors center sign, so I went in and got brochures and maps. Across the street was an old building (we're in downtown Bluefield now) with a sign that said "Gary Bowling's House of Art." I went in to check it out. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I have never been so impacted by a building and what's in it. This three-story historic building was decked out with art of all types in all mediums, a stage, a cafe, and artist's studios. The art ranges from extremely quirky to serious, and Gary himself is definitely way on the quirky side. We spoke (along with some other locals who had recently moved back to Bluefield) about what Bluefield was, what it is, and how Bluefield is now redefining itself. "Bluefield is coming back. It's not going to be what it was--and so this is us redefining ourselves."

For historical background, Bluefield was the backstage of the industrial revolution. The city experienced rampant growth, building glamorous skyscrapers, etc. In its fall, these buildings burnt down, and the population at least halved. The term "ghost city" would be fitting.

Back to Gary's House of Art. It has only been open for three months, so it's just getting started. Gary says that when he's done, he'd "put it up against anything on the east coast." I have no doubt that he will. They don't have a website up yet, but they're working on it. His passion (and what he has created) is very inspiring. We may try to incorporate his building into the volunteer's week somehow. Possibly have Friday night evening gathering on the second floor where there is a lot of space.

We leave for Bluefield Saturday, and I can't wait because I'm tired of training. I'm ready to get this thing rolling (*fist pump*).

So as you can tell, I'm very excited. Hopefully these allergies will leave me alone by the time we get to Bluefield. I had to sign out for decongestant at the pharmacy (so I don't use it to make methamphetamines).

Change to ASP Blog

So I've applied for and been accepted to work as a Center Director for the Appalachia Service Project. I worked for ASP in the summers of 2004 and 2005. I was a Center Director in 2005, and did a pretty bad job, I'd say. 2008 will be very different in that respect.

For background: I'm able to work this summer because I have already secured a job with Environmental Resources Management, and they said that they care about the personal development of their employees, so I could take the summer to do this job.

I'm really glad that things have worked out this way, because since 2005, I've been missing a certain ASP-ness in my life (read that aloud).

To view entries about ASP, click on the ASP label on the right.