Last winter, I posted a series of pictures of an old DAF truck with a ZEMAG crane. Meanwhile, a second foldable crane has arrived at the scene. An identical ZEMAG, it seems, yet mounted on a single axle semi-trailer chassis.
The classic DAF is in the background, partly hidden by a 2000 Mercedes-Benz A 140. That’s right, the original A-Class, the automaker’s first compact car model. Prior to the first gen’s introduction, nobody had ever heard of a moose test.
Both cranes are standing next to some new home building projects, separated by a fairly new house.
A crew of masons was working on the outer brick walls. The Remix silo contains dry mortar. Also visible, the insulation material between the inner and outer walls.
Dry mortar silos are placed at the construction site by a heavy truck, like this 2017 Volvo FM 420 8×4 with a wide spread tandem and steering rearmost axle. (photo courtesy of the Nijwa Groep B.V.)
Back to the bigger picture, this is merely a temporary skyline. Then again, all skylines are temporary.
Although this former church tower dates back to the 15th century. You see, it’s called De Oude Toren (The Old Tower) for a reason.
why don’t you see foldable cranes in the US? We have lots of telescoping cranes but no foldable cranes.
I have the same question. After Covid is over and I start seeing friends I will ask why. I am sure the answer will be economics, liability issues, and ¨we have never done it that way¨.
We have Toll Bros and cheap illegal labor, no need for expensive modern construction techniques.
In the U.S. we like to see them topple (sarcasm!). Johannes, this is a very interesting essay on the crane, the dry dement silos and the design of the truck that is being used. Thanks for the information. Tom
How efficient dry cement silos! Much better than rolling 50 tons of wet concrete through town destroying the roads and being a risk to everyone on the road the whole trip.
You can’t use large quantities of wet cement at once when laying bricks anyway. You’ll have to make it at the spot, thus with dry mortar.
This isn’t for concrete, it is for mortar so they can dispense and mix only as much as they can use at a time over the multiple days a project of this size will take.
The Mortar dispensers are very interesting and make a lot of sense for a project like this. I’ve never seen anything like it in the US in residential construction. But then again if you see brick on new residential construction in the US it is typically just an accent or just on the money side.
I have seen them on a larger scale with mini concrete plants being set up at large projects away from high density population centers.
Prior to these silos, it used to come in paper bags on pallets. 50 kg (110 lbs) per bag for a long time, then reduced to 25 kg, years ago.
Of course, still available for small jobs. But for building brick houses (or anything bigger), these silos have been the norm for quite some time now.
50lb bags are the norm here.
Johannes, do you know how thick that insulation is between the inner and outer walls? It doesn’t look very thick to me, but it’s a bit hard to tell from that distance.
When I was in Austria in 1999 for an extended trip, I visited a cousin whose son was building a new house. It was traditional construction, with hollow fired clay “tiles” or “blocks”. No insulation. I was a bit surprised, as the US building codes have required it since the energy crisis, if not sooner.
Yes, these houses are being built to last for centuries.
Just did a bit of reading on some sites. Currently, 8 to 10 cm space between inner and outer wall and at least 2 cm must stay “empty” for ventilation reasons.
It says Unilin on the material, their website, in English:
https://www.unilin.com/en/insulation
I remember Siku making a toy truck of a folding tower crane and I was fascinated by it, as I was with most Siku toys as a kid.
Yes, anything Siku (their “heavy vehicles”) was my favorite toy as a kid too. Say from 1970 to 1978.
That’s about the era my Sikus dated from too. I still vividly recall some bright green and orange Mercedes trucks amongst others. Very high quality pieces for an only slightly higher price.
My very first Siku big rig was this Hanomag-Henschel fuel tanker. Very detailed, for a toy. Tilting cab and all. And with realistic, dual tires/wheels. Later on in the seventies, they got wide, hard plastic wheels all around.