Supporting Habitat for Humanity in Wisconsin

Since 1976, Habitat for Humanity^® has helped more than 29 million people achieve strength, stability and independence through affordable shelter. The organization builds decent and affordable homes using high-quality, locally available building materials in partnership with homeowners and local contractors. On 48th Street in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Habitat built four new homes in fall 2022 and summer 2023 with the help of Kurk Inc., a concrete foundation and excavation contractor serving southeast Wisconsin.

The pumper utilized two pieces of Putzmeister equipment to pour approximately 55 square yards of concrete for the walls and foundations of each 1,200-square-foot single-story home. The homes boast three bedrooms and two bathrooms, full basements, detached garages and many features that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Each property is valued at approximately $200,000.

Amanda Kurk, vice president and managing partner of the pumper, said the company consistently chooses this equipment because of its overall value and performance on the job. “We’ve worked with this equipment manufacturer for about 20 years because they’re leaders in the market. They have the quality, the right equipment size and the right price points that we’re looking for. It’s also a benefit that they’re local to us,” she said.

UNIQUE FEATURE

Each house also has a unique feature beneath the front porch: a safe room — an underground cast concrete room to shelter residents in severe weather such as tornadoes. The pump company worked with Habitat for Humanity to design and install the safe rooms. “Typically, we would not dig out the porch area down to the basement. But with the safe rooms, we excavated the porch area all the way down to the basement elevation and poured full height walls. We’ll pour the cap for it and the slab at a later date,” Kurk said.

To build the homes, the pumper used the Telebelt^® TB 110 to pour a 3,000-psi mix for footings, as well as to place a drainage system and drainage stone. With six hopper options, the TB 110 can efficiently remove large volumes and handle a wide variety of materials such as dirt, sand, stone and gravel. For them, this was critical to helping install several truckloads of stone before pouring the concrete, then using the conveyor to re-stone above the drain tile.

TIGHT ACCESS

The TB 110 has a low unfolding height, and is designed for easy setup and operation in congested areas that don’t allow access for large machinery or have height restrictions. The four-section telescopic conveyor provides 106’1” (32.34 meters) of horizontal reach in heights as low as 15’9” (4.80 meters).

These features allowed Kurk to not only complete the Habitat builds, but to simultaneously work on other jobs. They often need to move their pumping equipment to other build sites during the day, which helps them meet tight pour schedules and accommodate other projects.

“We’re typically pumping or conveying twice a day, so it’s critical to have a setup we can move easily,” said Kurk. “We use a conveyor versus pump in that situation because it has the capability to move multiple different materials. We set our footing, use the conveyor to put the stone in place, and then pour the concrete for the footing.”

They also used the 38-4 meter truck-mounted concrete boom pump to pour a 4,000-psi mix for walls. They pumped the footings together in one mobilization but poured the walls individually on different days. This was made possible by the equipment’s ease of setup and the ability to quickly clean it and take it down.

Kurk Inc. partnered with Habitat for Humanity® of Kenosha to build four 1,200-squarefoothomes in fall 2022 and summer 2023. Each single-story home includes three bedrooms and two bathrooms, a full basement and detached garage,and many features compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“We prefer the boom pump over conveying on the foundation walls because there’s no segregation. It’s a little faster, it’s a little cleaner, and the setup is more compact. The speed and reliability, as well as the ease of setup, take down and cleanup allows us to move quickly onto the next thing if we need to,” said Kurk.

The flexibility of the multi-Z boom and the long reach with compact outriggers for quick setup in tight locations were all factors in choosing this pump for the relatively small city lots. “Access is always a concern, as is low overhead power lines. With this boom pump, we can get under the power line and then into the job site,” said Kurk.

Street closures posed a challenge during the summer 2023 build, when road construction is common in Wisconsin. The main access street at the two build sites was under construction and intermittently closed for repairs and repaving. That meant the team often had to set up in an adjacent abandoned alley with limited space for the boom.

“With the versatility of the pump, we were able to set up in the alley. It allowed us to adjust, maneuver and set up dependent on what was happening with the road construction,” said Kurk. The length of the boom was essential in making this happen. “The reach of the 38-meter pump was huge for us. It allowed us to be in a lot of different places and still reach everything,” she said.

Kurk Inc. will continue to work with Putzmeister equipment to build two more Habitat for Humanity homes in Kenosha in 2024.