Lone Star Northwest, Inc.

An eye-catching cement storage

Gary Madson, General Manager of Cement Operations for Lone Star Northwest, Inc., described their cement storage facility as, “a highly visible symbol for our company right in the heart of Portland.”

Completed in February 1995, that Monolithic Dome has a diameter of 141’ and a height of 74’. It stores dry bulk powder cement, much of which comes in from Asia on cargo ships. Madson said, “The cement is easily moved with compressed air – sucked out of the ship and blown into the dome.”

Important factors

Moisture-proofing is vital in cement storage. If not kept dry, moistened, stored cement attaches itself to the concrete sheltering it. Since Portland has a moist climate, waterproofing and seepage control were of paramount importance in the planning of this facility.

Madson said, “We looked at several possibilities. The industry has long standing methods for cement storage. We visited another cement storage dome facility in Missouri, then decided.”

Madson considers it a good decision. He said, “We’re satisfied, except for a cosmetic problem that we’re now working on. Climatic conditions apparently affected the color of the shell, so it’s not as uniform as we would like. Dome Technology is working with us on a solution.”

Lone Star Northwest threw two, well attended parties to celebrate the dome’s completion. They heated and decorated the dome, then invited the media as well as anyone interested in visiting.

^{Note: We first published this article in our Spring 1998 Roundup.}