Construction projects come in many forms, each with their own hurdles and applications. In contracting jobs, skilled labor or subcontractors are frequently needed for specialized tasks, especially in the line of concrete work. Armed with the proper equipment, contractors can simplify the work and improve their bottom line.

Curb Roller Manufacturing leverages innovation to collaborate with contractors, helping them take on new challenges. Recently, the manufacturer created a new and efficient solution for a contractor who was installing mini storage units.

The Curb Roller is typically used to boost efficiency when shaping curb and gutter. It takes the back-breaking, specialized labor out of these projects and allows the operator to achieve a high-quality, consistent result. This user-friendly machine provides a perfect platform for innovating solutions for various concrete applications.

A contractor in Iowa who builds mini storage units approached Curb Roller Manufacturing with a unique concrete shaping challenge. The blueprint consisted of multiple rooms in a row, each with its own garage door. To provide the units protection from environmental elements such as rain or debris, the contractor was required to create a notch for each door to sit in.

As opposed to a simple slab, preparing the concrete proved challenging due to the number of workers required to strike, cut, and finish the concrete. The increased labor requirements and limited labor supply forced the contractor to subcontract the concrete work, limiting the number of storage facilities built each month. Recognizing the restriction this created, the contractor searched for a more efficient way to form the doorway notch.

The contractor heard about Curb Roller Manufacturing’s concrete shaping solutions and approached the company for help. Curb Roller Manufacturing designed a custom Curb Roller drum profile that pairs with the monolithic kit, making it possible to place the doorway notch at the same time the flatwork was done. The manufacturer went on site and tested the drum, completing pours and fine-tuning the design. The new drum profile doubled the contractor’s production capabilities and became a standard stock profile. It’s now sold all over the United States for contractors working with this specific application.

Designing the drum was the first step, but this intricate project required additional consideration. Curb Roller Manufacturing had to design a system to ensure that the Curb Roller would be balanced, effective, and efficient in the mini storage unit setting.

Traditionally when working with the Curb Roller, the machine is designed to scribe off the curb form centered on the concrete. The machine's weight works to push the concrete down and helps shape the curb and gutter. Within this application, the operator needed the ability to control how much weight is placed on the concrete, and yet still balance holding the machine at the correct elevation to ensure the right shape is achieved.

With mini storage units, the concrete side of the machine is moving across concrete that is not yet fully hardened. Curb Roller Manufacturing designed a counterweight system, which is included in its monolithic kit, so the operator can adjust the weight to the finishing drum, depending on the workability of the concrete.

The Curb Roller takes the backbreaking labor out of concrete work and helps crews produce consistent results with less dependence on the operator’s skill level. Traditionally, a contractor doing any significant amount of work building mini storage units assigns up to four or five people for this process. With this new drum, the contractor found that they no longer need to assign a dedicated crew to shaping the doorway notches. Instead, they can use the same crew to work on the rest of the pour. As there are normal pauses in the concrete delivery and placement on the flatwork side, they can fall back and use this machine to shape the doorway notches. This ensures the work can still be completed on or ahead of schedule, even with a limited workforce.

Another significant area of savings the Curb Roller brings to this application is with lumber. Previously, the contractor was using 2x10s or 2x12s to form the doorway notch in the concrete by placing the lumber before the pour. When a building is several hundred feet long, that lumber cost can balloon to thousands of dollars for a single project. Using the Curb Roller for this process cuts that lumber out of the equation, leading to considerable savings.

As unique projects become more frequent, contractors need manufacturers that can expand as they do. Hands-on experience and widespread industry knowledge give Curb Roller Manufacturing the resources they need to produce efficiency-boosting solutions across many different applications.