CG Flooring Systems (CGFS) has successfully completed its biggest and most demanding project – upgrading the 6000m² floor of an iron foundry to narrow-aisle warehouse standard suitable for racking up to 12 metres high in less than six weeks.
As part of a major re-organisation of its manufacturing operations, the Baxi Group decided to close the cast iron foundry at its plant near Preston, Lancashire, and use most of the building as its central warehouse. The company is a leading European manufacturer of space and water heating products.
Following removal of the foundry equipment a detailed floor survey revealed several major challenges, including seven large pits up to three metres deep, a number of vertical steel columns, horizontal I-beams and steel bolts within the floor, damaged expansion joints, and low and high areas spread throughout the building.
All columns, beams and bolts were removed, and around 150 linear metres of expansion joints were repaired. The seven pits, totalling nearly 500m² in surface area, were filled with consolidated hardcore, and then covered with a waterproof membrane and mesh reinforcement. The edges of the pits were cut to provide clean, vertical surfaces, and then approximately 1000 600mm long dowel bars were inserted in the walls to provide a load transfer mechanism to support the new floor. Nearly 100m³ of concrete were poured in five hours to bring the pits up to floor level.
Elsewhere in the building a base screed was used to build low areas up to floor level, while high areas were scabbled to lower them. The entire floor area was then shot-blasted to provide a positive key for the wearing surface.
The wearing surface selected by CGFS consisted of a nominal 10mm-thick pumped cementitious screed and was completed in five days. Once this had cured, all existing floor joints were transferred through and sealed with a specialised filler in order to reduce the potential for cracking caused by substrate movement. Finally, a clear acrylic seal was applied to the entire surface.
CG Flooring Systems
Tel: 01484 600085