WAUSAU, Wis. (July 14, 2006) – As the backbone rises, it soon will pull the rest of the body up with it.

Crews from Miron Construction pour the sheer wall of the First Wausau Tower in downtown Wausau on Wednesday, July 12. Steelworkers have begun adding structural steel to the tower, the concrete for which is being entirely supplied by locally based County Materials.

The sheer wall, the I-shaped inner set of high-strength concrete walls that will serve as the primary support for the First Wausau Tower, soon will reach the ninth of what will be 11 floors. Throughout July, more than 1,000 tons of steel have begun connecting the sheer wall to the foundation. These beams and columns also will support the outer concrete-and-glass skin of the office facility, a small sample of which can be seen propped up at the southwest corner of the lot.

“It’s going along very well,” said Dan Carl, Senior Project Manager for Miron Construction. “This has been the best weather for this; sunny, warm. Once we get to floors 4 through 10, it’s all just repetition.”

The building has gained a new floor every workweek, said Carl, who will have overseen the pouring of more than 5,000 cubic yards of concrete from Marathon-based County Materials by the time the tower is complete, early next year. The concrete work will continue simultaneously with the steel work and will take on a new incarnation in mid-August, when Miron begins pouring the floors’ slabs.

A ready-mix delivery truck from County Materials rolls to the job site of the First Wausau Tower on Scott Street in downtown Wausau on Wednesday, July 12. Locally based County Materials will have delivered more than 5,000 cubic yards of concrete in the building by the time it is completed in early 2007.

The sheer wall is slated for completion in late July; meanwhile crews also are preparing to pour concrete planter walls at the west end of the structure that will face the Wisconsin River.

“This is the time of year to do it,” Carl said. “Come November, those winds get awfully cold up that high.”

County Materials operates 30 locations serving the Midwest. The family-owned, American company is an industry leader in the manufacture and distribution of concrete block, brick, stone, ready-mix, hollowcore, pipe, pavers, retaining walls and Aggregate Finish products for residential, commercial and municipal construction and landscaping.

For more information, call us at 1-800-289-2569 and ask for a product guide.