This blogging session sponsored by Orville Redenbacher and Compliments Club Soda
04Mar2010
That just means I can go hard all night and not have to worry about those pesky calories.
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Random notes from the ‘World of Concrete’ show in Las Vegas
27Feb2010
This past February I was lucky enough to be asked to lecture to the Hanley Wood ‘World of Concrete convention in Las Vegas Nevada. It was the 3rd year I’ve spoken at the show, on the topic “advanced techniques in decorative concrete”. Hard to believe a local boy from Winnipeg Canada would be asked to share his ideas on such a huge topic….but sadly it’s true! Haha. Each and every year, I learn as much from the dudes in the class, as I try to show them. It’s not about me telling, it’s all about sharing ideas, learning, and developing new ideas and techniques that can be used to make our jobs- YOUR projects better. We’ve always been honoured to talk at this show. Almost as much as we’ve been honoured to work for you as well. As you can tell by this blog, we use a lot of pictures and good times to create an interesting work culture. We have a great time working and just hanging out. Taking some of my guys with to the show (I believe) helps gain insight into our place in the concrete industry as well. It helps us understand what’s being done, and what we are doing, and perhaps how we can make this thing called work, a cooler situation.
Here’s what some of my guys had to say about the 2010 WOC show:
Phil says: the World of Concrete convention was definitely an eye-opener. With and endless number of booths and displays, you couldn’t possibly take it all in. The show had everything for the do-it-yourselfer to the giant commercial.
The Artistry in Concrete section was particularly interesting. Not only was there new products and ideas, you could also watch them in use. The live demonstrations were very useful for learning new techniques and methods of forming and pouring. The vertical carving work was very impressive and I enjoyed seeing all the new councrete counter top ideas. Some looked great and some looked terrible.. The show was full of great opportunities to learn about new products and talk to the pros who use them.
Tim says: Vegas! It is everything it is hyped up to be. Walk all day and crawl all night. If I was to go to Vegas again I would do some serious preparation. First I would start out by walking on broken glass bare footed, followed by that I would run 10 miles. This process would be repeated daily for a couple months to strengthen up my feet for the 100 miles you walk… every day.
The real reason we went was for the 2010 World of Concrete. Hands down this was the largest convention I have EVER been to. I swear that every business to do with concrete had a booth set up there. With that many business’ you are bound to learn and see some pretty amazing things. Going to this event made me learn two valuable things:
1. With concrete the only limit you have is your imagination. There was things build out of concrete at the convention that put me in shock.
2. Here at Klassen Concrete we do some amazing work. I was actually shocked at how comparable and in some cases how much better our work looked then some of the leading companies. I was pumped that a company based out of the small city of Winnipeg, Canada held its own at the World of Concrete.
Dustin says: Vegas eh. I had never been and I had no idea what to expect. Vegas is nuts so much to see and do. We definatly walked the strip more then once. Yep! That is a lot of walking and a lot of stamped crete . After this visit to sin city i definatly would come more prepared and probably rent a segway , in my opinion is much more stylish and practical for the vegas seen.
Going to the show was really helpful and made me realize that we do a lot of cool work everyday back home. Seeing some of the displays in the artistry section showed me that we are definatly on top of our game.
This summer pouring we need to be a lot more organized so we can be more eficient and take pride in our work and who we work for.
Going to the show was really helpful and made me realize that we do a lot of cool work everyday back home. Seeing some of the displays in the artistry section showed me that we are definatly on top of our game.
This summer pouring we need to be a lot more organized so we can be more eficient and take pride in our work and who we work for.
Jeramy says: The 2010 concrete show in las vegas was a great trade show… To search for girls, walk around and cure hangovers from wild nights before. From drinking beer and test driving riding power trowells I found that the wacker riders were most appealing because they had cup holders for my drink. All jokes aside I saw some very interesting decorative concrete projects . Nathan griffins carving skills and attention to detail really caught my eye. I saw some pouring equiptment that I could speed up our placing process. Along with some state of the art finishing tools kraft had to offer. After a walk through the decorative section it helped me realize that our design and execution of projects is on the forefront of the decorative concrete world… 
2010, we’re on it. Just like we were in 56, 57, 58 5…………
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Don’t let a little winter stop ya!!
27Feb2010
Just because we celebrate winter and snow for 5 months of the year, don’t let that stop you from designing a killer back yard feature like this vertical carved concrete pergola! Hey, there may be snow on the ground…looks pretty sweet- and worthy of a winter wiener roast!! haha
More wine cellar shots
27Feb2010
These are the last of the photo’s from our Chicago adventure. We did some finishing behind the wicked arched oak door, and worked on some corner details. Check out the cool barn boards used as the back drop for the wine racks and insets for the archways. Nice stuff.
We may not get the opportunity to work on a lot of 10 million dollar homes here, but we sure do like to get some good ideas from the ones we do get to work on 
CHICAGO CHICAGO CHICAGO! ! ! !
24Feb2010
So Jeramy and I went to Chicago, if you haven’t heard….. Here we worked with Nathan Giffan of Creative Rock Forming, whom I took a seminar from this past summer. Any who…. We wanted to bone up on some techniques and hooked up with Nathan on a cool Wine Cellar project he was just wrapping up. We made the quick 14 hour drive and worked on carved rock features for 2 days with him. Check out this summer home: over 6000 square feet, vaulted ceilings, massive master bedroom (check out that tub and en suite!!) Yeah, you don’t get to help out on these very often.
Coolest item seen? Hidden drawers in the rock
wall. check it out!
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Watch Out!!
24Feb2010
We’re going to tear it up in the old duck and goose exhibit at the fortwhyte alive. Coming soon!!!!!: the Burrowing Owl and Prairie Dog show!! Check out our action- coming soon!!
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What’s he doing?!!?
24Feb2010
Ryley puts the boots to this floor grinding and staining it to perfection!
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Here’s a little self leveled floor action…
22Feb2010
Here we poured a self leveler over a wood sub floor and created the look of a monolithic concrete slab. Wire lathe was shot over the subfloor, and scratch coated- then the leveler applied over top. A concrete dye was also sprayed on to create mottling and natural curing splotching in the floor.
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