|
Focus on Floors
Concrete Technology
Home > Concrete Design &
Construction >Industrial Floors
INDUSTRIAL FLOORS
 Concrete
slabs on grade can be found in nearly every single industrial, commercial,
and residential building. Whether they exist below a layer of flooring
material or are exposed, slabs on grade provide foundation for all
building foundations.
Concrete slabs on grade can be as simple as your residential driveway
placed and finished by hand or as complex as this super-flat industrial
floor installed with laser-guided screeds and power trowels. Regardless
of the intended use, the engineering principles remain the same.
Essentially, quality materials combined with good design and expert
workmanship yield the best concrete slab. The following information
and references serve as a guide for all three of these essentials.
Resources
Design and Control
of Concrete Mixtures (EB001)
Concrete Floors
on Ground (EB075)
Concrete Finisher’s
Guide (PA122)
Placing a Bonded
Floor Overlay
If a floor needs to carry greater loads than it was designed for,
it can often be upgraded with a bonded overlay. A well-bonded overlay
can give the floor the added thickness it needs to support the additional
weight.
However, placing a bonded overlay presents many
difficult challenges. Here are a few tips to help ensure success:
TIP #1
Keep the water content of the overlay as low as possible to minimize
shrinkage and curling. The concrete should have a water-cement ratio
of 0.45 or less and a minimum cement content of 600 lb/cubic yards
(360 kg/cubic meters). The maximum aggregate size should be no more
than one-third the thickness of the overlay.
TIP #2
Saw control joints to the full depth of the overlay directly over
the underlying floor joints. An overlay joint and an underlying
joint may begin and end at the same place, but they often are not
aligned perfectly along the entire length of the joint. Sawing the
overlay joint to its full depth reduces the chances of reflective
cracking in the overlay in areas where the joints are not perfectly
aligned.
TIP #3
Proper curing is even more important in bonded resurfacing than
in ordinary concrete work because of the potential for rapid, early
drying of the thin concrete overlay due to its high surface-to-volume
ratio. Use a fog spray immediately after finishing, if necessary,
to protect against rapid drying, and cover with wet burlap, plastic
sheets, or waterproof paper as soon as they can be placed without
marring the surface.
This information was excerpted from PCA's 12-page
publication, Resurfacing
Concrete Floors.
Frequently Asked Questions
Back to top
|