We've heard the story before when meeting a mason: "My father was a mason, I am a mason"—it seems all too familiar to have a family owned business with a long pedigree of hard working masons. Anticipating my next Meet the Mason Spotlight, I wondered how this interview would go. To my delight, meeting this father/son duo, Paul L Cantarella and Paul Junior, was more than just the average meet and greet interview. Their energy was exciting and inviting, and they were reminiscent of how they got ...

It’s funny how someone can attend monthly meetings for years, share experiences and brain storm ideas with the same people, but never really get to know who is at the table. It’s not until you take the time to ask the ultimate question: “What is your story?” Because up until that turning point, you make assumptions: They’re here so they must be an advocate for the trade, but why? Why did they choose masonry?    A son of a mason, he understood the trade. In fact, it’s all he knew growing up b...

Allegrone: Al – a – Grone - E - They’re a staple to the masonry restoration and preservation construction community with a timeline stretching as far back as 1921. The Allegrone family business is in its fourth generation and has grown immensely from the roots they planted almost 100 years ago. A company built as strong as the masonry materials they represent, Louis C. Allegrone developed a company built on integrity, strength, and quality. With hard work and determination, Allegrone’s origin...

Dive Brief: In an effort to help contractors comply with its new Respirable Crystalline Silica Standard for Construction, OSHA has released instructional videos and other free educational materials about the topic. Some of the aids provided by the agency, Safety + Health reported, are a customizable slideshow presentation to help employers train construction workers; a short YouTube video about how to protect employees from silica dust; a video series on dust control methods for common co...

Architecture firm Thompson and Churchill had a vision when they designed the State Tower Building back in 1928. State Tower stands as the tallest building at 312 feet and 23 stories in the City of Syracuse. Ninety years later Lupini Construction had the task of preserving the essence of this nationally recognized historic building and bringing it back to life.   The bones of the building consist of steel framing with a limestone, brick and terra-cotta façade. Over the years the building was...

Having worked decades for himself, Andrew Sciocchetti, Sr. was not only looking to build a future for his family, but a legacy in which his Business could expand. At the age of18, Andrew Sciocchetti, Jr. decided to pursue a career with his Father and AJS Masonry, Inc. was born in 1988. Established as a two-man crew, Father and Son, they worked towards the American Dream of building a business. Thirty years later, Andy Sciocchetti, Jr. is still in the driver seat, having taken the company from...

Many stories begin with a family business idea—some find the gumption to act on these ideas, while others stray because they fear the unknown, The Casler Family exudes qualities of the former and has created a business without hesitation.                                                                               The year was 1975. Harold J. Casler, having followed in his father in-law Joseph O’Connor’s footsteps, Harold had already reached a twenty-year milestone as member of the local Br...

You often see noise barriers or sound barriers (as referenced in other parts of the country) that line busy roadways constructed from precast concrete panels or tilt-up concrete walls. However, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) required something completely different for this stretch of Route 167 in the corridor between Tacoma and Seattle.   This nearly two-mile-long sound barrier is constructed of concrete masonry units (CMU), something that Jim Reynolds, the genera...

A NEW STUDY FINDS THAT FORESTS ARE KEY TO REDUCING THE STATE’S CLIMATE IMPACTS. A study from Oregon State University has found that logging and wood products are the biggest source of carbon dioxide in Oregon. The wood products sector generated about 1.5 times more CO2 emissions than the transportation and energy sectors. Wood product emissions are the result of fuel burned by logging equipment, the hauling of timber, milling, wood burned during forestry activities, and the ongoing decompos...

A system that can be simply applied to building stone and masonry to give it self-healing properties.   In order to develop buildings and historic structures, Cardiff scientists are exploiting the unique properties of bacteria to help develop a self-healing masonry. The system can be simply applied to building stone and masonry to give it self-healing properties. The technology actually relies on the fact that naturally occurring microorganisms such as bacteria can produce mineral deposits...

Construction Workers Broke Bones "Jumping Off The 2nd And 3rd Floor" As Building Went Up In Flames A Denver Fire Spokesperson Said. Two persons were still unaccounted for Wednesday in a mid-afternoon Denver construction site fire that completely destroyed an apartment building under construction. Construction workers were also injured "jumping off the second and third floors" and others were injured "trying to catch them." One firefighter was also being treated for minor burns, said Denver F...

Six months after flames engulfed a London high-rise and sparked concerns about similarly-clad buildings around the world, a The National Association of State Fire Marshalls Research Foundation has developed a tool aimed at making buildings safer. The NAFSM Foundation says its free risk evaluation tool will be available on its website . shortly as part of Project FAIL-SAFE. Combustible exterior paneling fueled the flames that enveloped Grenfell Tower on June 14, killing 71 people, authorities...

Softwood lumber prices closed out the year at or near record highs in most areas of the country — making the average Random Lengths Composite Price for 2017 the highest in 20 years. “Prices surged early in the year due to the arbitrary tariffs levied on softwood lumber imports from Canada, which impacted roughly one-third of U.S. supply,” said David Logan, NAHB’s tax policy analyst who continually monitors the pulse of building materials prices. “Then in mid- to late-2017, widespread wildfi...

Builders in Oregon will break ground early next year on this country's tallest building made primarily of wood. The 12-story, 60-unit apartment complex in Portland called Framework is part of a national boom in wood construction, but some fire experts are raising alarms about the safety of these structures.  For a century, there was no safe alternative to concrete and steel but now some architects are turning to compressed wood for its surprising strength and beauty, reports CBS News...

11/17/2017 In this Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017 photo, residents are evacuated from the Barclay Friends Senior Living Community during a fire in West Chester, Pa. At least 20 people were injured in the massive fire at the senior living community about 35 miles west of Philadelphia. (Steven M. Falk/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)  WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — The Latest on a massive fire at a senior living community in Pennsylvania: (all times local): 2:45 p.m. A...

FONTANA, Calif. — At a steel factory dwarfed by the adjacent Auto Club Speedway, Fernando Esparza is working toward his next promotion. Esparza is a 46-year-old mechanic for Evolution Fresh, a subsidiary of Starbucks that makes juices and smoothies. He’s taking a class in industrial computing taught by a community college at a local manufacturing plant in the hope it will bump up his wages. It’s a pretty safe bet. The skills being taught here are in high demand. That’s in part because so muc...

Massachusetts belatedly confronts construction fire dangers By Kay Lazar and Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff August 12, 2017  THE NIGHT SKY GLOWED in East Longmeadow as firefighters raced toward a sprawling retirement complex being built on acres of farmland. They arrived minutes after the first call to find a raging inferno like nothing they had ever encountered. Manufactured composite wood used in the construction of the unoccupied, 130-unit Bluebird Estates burned like kindling. Wind ...

NCMA's Concrete Products University Online has courses which address specific topics in the concrete masonry and hardscapes industry. Each CPU online course focuses on important technical information, to help you maximize the profitability of your company. CPU Online courses are a great resource for industry employees, architects, engineers, designers, managers and anyone else looking to gain expert industry knowledge on concrete masonry products.  Featured Course: Concrete Masonry Overview ...

Walk down the halls of the Home2 Suites when it opens this fall in Mount Pleasant, and it won't seem much different than any other hotel. But just beneath the surface, the hotel is breaking new ground, developers say. Its corridors will be supported by cross-laminated timber, a relatively new form of lumber that hasn't been tried before in a commercial building in South Carolina. The concept is fairly simple. Planks of wood are stacked like a big Jenga set, glued together and pressed into p...

Waterbury, Connecticut, Blaze Highlights Vulnerable Construction Methods. On Wednesday, May 17, 2017, days after a wood-framed retail-apartment complex under construction in Oakland, Calif., was destroyed for the second time in a year, five firefighters were injured in a fire that destroyed four three-story multi-family homes in Waterbury, Conn., exemplifying the danger with wood-framed residential buildings.   The fire, which displaced 20 families, – 32 people in all – comes at ...

A Huge Fire Has Destroyed An Apartment Building That Was Under Construction In The San Fransisco Bay Area City Of Emeryville After The Project Was Gutted By Another Fire Last July. EMERYVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A huge fire has destroyed an apartment building that was under construction in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Emeryville after the project was gutted by another fire last July. The fire near the city's border with Oakland broke out early Saturday. Winds blew embers which sparke...

2017: Your Winning Season   Everybody loves technology. As a society, many seem almost obsessed with it! Doubt me? What’s a bigger deal these days: the roll-out of the new cars each model year, or the latest version of the I-phone? I mean, my gosh… if I don’t get that new thing, what does that say about me? Of course I’ll stand in line overnight just to get the newest model from Apple! Okay, maybe I’m kidding just a little bit, but you get the idea. Technology is important these days and, ...

City Seeks Support From State   The city of Maitland is working on hammering out a way to prohibit wood-frame construction for new buildings, and looking for cities statewide to get on board to make it happen. The Maitland City Council got behind the idea after the city’s Planning & Zoning Commission started researching it last fall. Last month the Commission requested that the City Council have the city’s lobbyist work to gain support across the state for the Florida Legislature to ch...