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Recent content by techmaximus

  1. techmaximus

    Field Density Testing

    Mazzman wrote, "I need to gauge the usual practice locally with regard to this topic." Good one, a nice play on words. It’s a good thing you are “checking” this topic out. If you want checks in the file, have the techs do checks. Running a drive tube in the footprint of a nuke gauge test is...
  2. techmaximus

    Low 7-Day Concrete Breaks

    ASTM C94 16.2 Tests of concrete required to determine compliance with this specification shall be made by a certified ACI Concrete Field Testing Technician, Grade I or equivalent. Equivalent personnel certification programs shall include both written and performance examinations as outlined in...
  3. techmaximus

    getting the shaft by boss

    TheTick was right on with, “I would have avoided this entanglement all together.” I should have avoided the entanglement; however, I really thought that I was doing a service to the company. I fully expected to get a letter of commendation or something. I mean warehouse space would have cost...
  4. techmaximus

    Field Density Testing

    RCEJD writes, “We constantly run into issues of certain minerals in rocks throwing off our nuke gages.” Elements in the material being tested may cause false high or low moisture content readings but these same elements do not affect the wet density readings. If the moisture content reading...
  5. techmaximus

    Field Density Testing

    Troxler: “The gauge measures moisture by determining the amount of hydrogen present in the material. If the material contains compounds that are high in hydrogen forms other than water an inaccurate reading may result.” A licensed PE nuclear engineer imparted the following information to me...
  6. techmaximus

    Construction of concrete cylinder curing rooms

    Our moisture room has CMU walls with pre-cast concrete ceiling all coated with water proofing. The humidity level is maintained with an air compressor and a water line (atomized water). We go through roughly 250 cylinders a day. Techmaximus
  7. techmaximus

    Field Density Testing

    Mica is not a neutron absorber. And even if mica were a neutron absorber it would cause the gauge to give a false LOW moisture reading. Elements like boron, chlorine, or cadmium absorb, or capture, neutrons because their nuclei have large cross sections. The absorption of neutrons causes LOW...
  8. techmaximus

    Field Density Testing

    Mazzman writes, “The high mica content in the soils made for some very strange gauge readings.” Strange readings? How so? Techmaximus
  9. techmaximus

    Basement backfill

    When you say that you plan on "pulling the wall back", does this mean that the wall is already in distress or failure? Also, maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t see how “cracks in the soil “cause pressure on the wall" or "allow the walls to settle". The fill material dries out causing...
  10. techmaximus

    Support of wwf in slab on grade

    If as an EOR you specify WWF and you are not there to personally observe that it is placed correctly or you don’t have very persistent inspector, forget it. It's not where you want it. In my line of work I see a slab-on-grade pour on average twice a week. That hooking business is just crap...
  11. techmaximus

    Basement backfill

    Desiccation is the formation of cracks in drying clayey sediments. Desiccation cracks indicate an alternately wet and very dry environment. The idea is to wet the ground during the dry part of the cycle in order to maintain the moisture content of the soil thus preventing the cracks from...
  12. techmaximus

    New Show about engineers

    Ron (Structural) 20 Oct 04 6:42 "Yeah, about the only way to make it exciting is to have Engineer vs. crooked (developer, contractor, architect..etc) with a collapse involved.!" This was done as Towering Inferno. A structural engineer, as another person mentioned, figured out how to put the...
  13. techmaximus

    How far do you commute?

    My home-to-office commute is 45 miles or 50 minutes. I rarely go straight to the office in the morning. If at all possible I go directly to a job. Some jobs are minutes away and some jobs are at most 1.5 hours away. Being a technician with a company truck (all expenses company paid) I don’t...
  14. techmaximus

    getting the shaft by boss

    Yes. I decided to go with the advice given here and not buck the move if it were desired. When my manager spoke to me about the situation he actually asked if the client wanted the lab moved to job would I be OK with that. What was I going to say, “Screw the client I want my rent money!”...
  15. techmaximus

    Blame Culture

    Being the owner of 5 dogs I can certainly empathize with you; however, it’s not just a “damn cat”. This case was about the totality of this particular dog owner’s negligent actions and inactions that led to the damn cat being brutality killed and the subsequent fine. This dog owner was a...
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