Super-flat concrete floors for distribution centers: Safe, fast and cost-effective

Not surprising, according to Alex van der Ham, commercial director of Loos Betonvloeren. "To ensure safety in high-rise warehouses and keep the speed of, for example, narrow aisle trucks high, a super-flat company floor finish is indispensable. Loos Betonvloeren gladly contributes to this. From the advice and initial design to the pile foundation, concrete pour and final finish."

The NEN 2747 divides the flatness of concrete floors into classes (1 to 7). "Whereas most producers can handle classes 7, 6 and 5 without any problems, specific knowledge is required for classes 3, 2 and 1," says Van der Ham. "To guarantee optimal flatness, floor load, construction speed and price, everything has to be right: from pile foundation to floor thickness, concrete composition, reinforcement, equipment and people. Loos Betonvloeren can provide in all these aspects. Besides skilled engineers, pouring crews and monolithic finishers, we have our own concrete technology consultants who monitor both concrete mixes and strength development. Our Giga Screed is also an asset: with this impressive machine we can lay a super-flat floor of over 2,000 m² in one day. Another unique feature of the Giga Screed is that we can use it to make lanes up to 27 meters wide. This allows us to build significantly faster and save costs. It also allows architects to include approximately 29 meters of column-free space and more usable floor space in their projects."

Before the Giga Screed can get to work, pre-pouring strips are laid on both sides of the columns using hand rollers. These pre-cast strips are lined with steel angle lines and form the driving lanes for the machine. The reinforcement runs under the angle lines. Van der Ham: "With our floor systems, we can basically make infinitely large areas that are shrinkage-free and joint-free." Once the reinforcement is in place and the Giga Screed is ready, the pouring can begin. "With a concrete pump and concrete trucks driving back and forth, it's lightning fast: once several meters of concrete have been poured, the machine goes over it several times and (super)flat is the floor. Then the monolith finishers complete the floor."