Thursday, 18 June 2009 20:46

WAUSAU (May 19, 2008) – As the ceremonial ribbon fell, visitors toured the area’s newest home for stray and surrendered dogs and cats, the Humane Society of Marathon County at 7001 Packer Drive, during its grand-opening celebration in May 2008.

Surrounding the animals are walls of Premier Prestige Series® Block from County Materials. The decorative concrete masonry units feature a glazed face that is stain- and moisture-resistant, withstands impact and is resistant to abrasion and many chemicals and bacteria. In addition to these 8,800 units, County Materials also supplied 9,000 splitface concrete masonry units, 25,000 structural CMUs and 389.5 cubic yards of ready-mix concrete.

“They use a lot of high-pressure washers here,” said Wally Binder of Ghidorzi Construction, who designed the facility. “Regular paint would peel off. And we don’t have to worry about urine or anything. There’s always something very caustic in this environment.”

At nearly 13,000 square feet, the facility is about four times the size of its cramped predecessor on Kent Street, plus it now has the option of significantly expanding to the south and to the east. The structural CMUs are exposed in the “people” portions of the facility, painted to establish a variety of tones and styles. In some common areas, such as the meeting room that will be available to community groups, a single course of splitface CMUs runs near the top of the wall. Flipping those units around allowed for a smooth-face band on the exterior of these single-wythe walls; the band will sport a terra cotta hue to set it off against earth tones.

“It’s very rewarding,” Binder said, noting that the facility had been nearly 10 years in the making. “My wife and I got our dog from the humane society.”