Fast-track upgrade for floor
March 1st 2008 CG Flooring Systems has
completed its largest and most
demanding project. It has upgraded
the 6000m2 floor of an iron
foundry to narrow-aisle warehouse
standard for racking to 12m high
in less than six weeks.
As part of a re-organisation of
its operations, Baxi Group, maker
of space and water heating
products, decided to close its cast
iron foundry near Preston and use
most of the building as its central
warehouse.
A floor survey highlighted
several challenges, including
seven large pits up to 3m deep,
vertical steel columns, horizontal Ibeams
and steel bolts within the
floor, damaged expansion joints,
and low and high areas throughout
the building.
All columns, beams and bolts
were removed, and 150 linear
metres of expansion joints were
repaired. Pits were filled with
consolidated hardcore, and then
covered with a waterproof
membrane and mesh
reinforcement. The edges were
cut to provide clean, vertical
surfaces, and then 1000 600mm
long dowel bars were inserted in
the walls to provide a load transfer
mechanism. Almost 100m3 of
concrete was poured in 5h to
bring the pits to floor level.
Elsewhere, a base screed was
used to build low areas to floor
level; high areas were scabbled to
lower them. The entire area was
then shot-blasted. The surface, a
nominal 10mm-thick pumped
cementitious screed, was
completed in five days. Once
cured, floor joints were transferred
through and sealed to reduce the
potential for cracking. Finally, a
clear acrylic seal was applied to
the entire surface. More articles from C G Flooring Systems Ltd: | 
