A new, safer, quicker and cleaner way to mold concrete
walls and floors is being used on Far East District construction projects.
A new barracks at Camp Carroll will be the first in the
Far East District to use a new metal form system called down slab to mold
concrete walls and floors. Traditionally, in Korea, plywood is the preferred
material.
“This one is unique. The way the form system is
dismantled makes this safer and cleaner than plywood or other forms,” said
Jared McCormick, project engineer at the southern resident office. “When you
strip the formwork (the mold that shapes the concrete) with the metal form, you
have less safety hazards to worry about,” said McCormick.
The shoring for the floor slab formwork has built in
jacks. Once the concrete obtains the
desired strength to slab, formwork is lowered by the jacks. The formwork is lowered to just above the
workers heads for an easier and safer dismantling.
“Normally the workers will have to use ladders or
scaffolding to climb up to strip the plywood formwork,” said McCormick. “This is both messy and dangerous when
working that high up while using things like hammers and chisels to loosen up
and remove the slab formwork.”
The system is not only safer it also helps quicken the
construction process.
“This form of formwork is most cost effective when used
on repetitive features like this eight-story barracks,” said McCormick.
To go along with the formwork, a self operating machine,
which operates through a vent duct in the building during construction, is used
to lift the formwork from one level to the next.
“It releases form grease that keeps the concrete from
sticking to the panels,” said McCormick. “You don’t need a rigger for
strappings and connections to a crane. There’s no large loads suspended in the
air providing a safer work environment.”
Form oil essentially helps prevent the concrete from
bonding to the form work so that it is easier and safer to dismantle.
As a result of the new formwork the construction project
workers are safer, time is saved and the end product will be that much better.
“This is going to be a higher quality finish. The
formwork looks better and is easier to use,” said McCormick.
Other benefits include less construction waste as well as
increased labor productivity over the entire course of the project.
Three-hundred-and-two Soldiers from the 501st
Sustainment Brigade are scheduled to move in to the barracks when it’s finished.
The district is working with Samsung Construction & Trading to complete the
facility by the fall of 2015.