Constructive Conversations Special Edition: World of Concrete Recap

Another year, another World of Concrete in the books. I know we say it every time, but this year really was a great show for Pecora. We saw live demo turnouts we haven’t seen in previous years; attendees got their hands dirty and participated in the demos, we conducted productive conversations with attendees who stopped by the booths, and experienced weather we could only dream of. Although Tuesday was a little breezy, that did not stop thousands of attendees from flocking the Las Vegas Convention Center in anticipation of learning what’s new in the concrete construction industry.

The Convention Center is unlike anything you have ever seen. It stretches a total of 4.6 million square feet with 2.5 million square feet of exhibit space, and 390,000 square feet of meeting space (https://www.vegasmeansbusiness.com/meeting-facilities/convention-conference-facilities/las-vegas-convention-center/). For the World of Concrete show, the convention center exhibit space is divided into four sections: The North, Central, West and South Hall. Each hall is dedicated to a certain section of the construction industry, and houses similar companies and their booths. There are also two lots outside, one is designated for product demonstrations and the other is for masonry, concrete, and other competitions. These locations are called the Silver and Bronze lots. Pecora hosts two booths, an inside exhibit booth which was located in the South Hall, and an outside demonstration booth which was located in the Silver Lot.

Pecora hosted three lives demos a day over the course of the World of Concrete tradeshow. Tuesday, Jan 17^th and Wednesday, Jan 18^th featured the same schedule with an 11AM HB1000 Decorative Pedestrian Traffic Coating System demo, 1PM SilcoPrime Exterior Grade Architectural Coating Primer demo, and 3PM Traffic Grade Sealants demo. The Thursday, Jan 19^th schedule included an 11AM SilcoPrime demo and 1PM Traffic Grade Sealants demo. Each demo is carefully crafted with the attendees in mind: what is most interesting to viewers, what are the important features and benefits of the product, how can we engage the audience? This analysis helps the Pecora Technical Service Team in developing a comprehensive demo schedule that is constantly improving and enhanced from the previous year. 

As 11AM nears, the Technical Service Team consisting of Mike Murphy, Glen Murphy, and Mike Ellis get in position and hop on the mic to introduce themselves and start the demo. The HB1000 Decorative Pedestrian Traffic Coating System demo begins with the pouring of the activator and color packs into a 5.5-gallon pail of HB1000 Traffic Membrane. Glen expresses the importance of properly combining the color packs to establish a homogenous color and ensuring the activator is completely immersed within the pail.  Glen also suggests utilizing a jiffy-style mixer which allows for less air into the material when mixing. When mixing is to the satisfaction of the team, Mike pours the contents of the bucket onto a concrete slab, which is already been primed with Pecora P-808 Primer, at 15-20 mils to display the ease of use, coverage capabilities, and beautiful color. After rolling out the coating, vinyl decorative flakes are broadcasted on top of the entire surface of the coating to refusal. Glen states, “once that flakes are broadcasted the coating can sit overnight, or if you need to return to service faster, after about five hours of curing the coating should be firm enough to the point where the excess chips can be removed.” Once the excess flakes are removed, the Pecora 806 Clear Top Coat is then applied to provide UV resistance and to act as a wearing surface top coat over the HB1000 membrane and to hold the flakes in place. When the demo was finished, audience members stuck around to speak with the Technical Service and Sales teams to learn more about the product.

After an hour break, it was time for the next demo to begin. Mike opened by introducing Pecora’s newest product, SilcoPrime Exterior Grade Architectural Coating Primer, and demonstrated how to apply the product. After application, the Technical Service Team wanted to showcase SilcoPrime’s performance capabilities by conducting a pull off adhesion strength test. This is done to determine whether proper adhesion has been achieved and installation has been completed correctly. Before arriving at the show, steel test dollies were adhered to two separates surface samples, one coated with SilcoPrime and another not coated with SilcoPrime. The first test performed was on the surface sample not coated with SilcoPrime. Per Pecora’s field test procedure guidelines (Technical Bulletin #220 & #220A), Mike took a knife and lightly scored around the entire perimeter of a dolly, down to the substrate. A piece of wood was used as a base support ring so there was equal support being applied to the tester. An Elcometer was then placed over the piece of wood with the slot attached to the bolt head on the dolly. After a few turns, the dolly popped off with a PSI reading of 40lbs. After zeroing out the device, it was time to test the surface sample coated with SilcoPrime. The same field test procedures were performed, but this time the digital exactor displayed a PSI reading of 244lbs. Failures for this test can be either adhesive or cohesive, but it is important to understand why the failure occurred. Poor adhesion may be caused by poor substrate preparation, the surface being contaminated by water or dirt, or not properly cured.

The last demo of the day is dedicated to Pecora Traffic Grade Sealants, more specifically DynaTrol II-SL self-leveling, polyurethane slope grade traffic sealant. The demo starts with the mixing of the pre-tinted base in the color Limestone, as well as the activator. The two components were blended thoroughly for about 1.5 minutes and then a pause so Mike could scrape the sides and then mixed for another 1.5 minutes to ensure uniformity. After the product was completely combined, a bulk caulk gun was used to suction material into the apparatus for application. Glen then demonstrated how to apply the product into ½” joints cut into concrete slabs. The slabs were sloped to showcase how the product self-levels. Once Glen was finished, audience members were invited to participate in the demo in exchange for a Yeti mug.

The next two days went on without a hitch! We want to thank all of you who stopped by our booth to watch a live demo, speak with a sales representative, learn more about our products, or just to say hi. We base the success of our WOC experience on the educational interactions we have and the positive impressions we leave with attendees. We also would like to thank our staff for their hard work in the planning and implementation of the show.

If you would like more information on the products and procedures discussed in this blog, we encourage you to visit our website to learn more www.pecora.com. You can also reach out to one of our Technical Service members by calling (800) 523-6688 or emailing techservices@pecora.com.

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