Long Strip Pour

Summary

Long Strip Pour - The long strip pour method is the slowest, most accurate placement method for a concrete floor slab.

Technical Information

A floor constructed by the long strip method lends itself most to use in a Very Narrow Aisle (VNA) warehouse as very high flatness levels can be achieved without the need for grinding. When it is used for this purpose, the racking is usually placed over the formed joints between strips; allowing for maximum flatness to be achieved within the aisles.
Typically up to 300m2/day can be placed using this method.

Formed joints are created between strips and induced joints at periods (maximum 6m) along the strip. The induced joints are necessary to ensure that the aspect ratio of each panel is below the acceptable limit to accommodate shrinkage (around 1.2).

The strips are usually screeded manually. The formwork on either side of the strip is used to guide the height of the rollers making the screeding very accurate.

The normal construction process for this method is as follows:

1m wide strips are created at either end of the floor area.

Strips 4-6m wide are cast alternately using either temporary formwork or joint armour, leaving gaps of a strip’s width between each pour.

New strips are cast in the gaps between the ones cast earlier. If temporary formwork was used, the edges of the old strips act as formwork for the new strips.

This method does not require a major initial investment by the contractor (laser screed purchase etc.) and if it has been done to a good standard, no remedial grinding will be required to achieve superflat floors. However, the process is very labour intensive compared to other slab construction methods.