Concrete floors are an essential part of your plant infrastructure. Let’s face it, there’s no other real affordable option for large product storage areas. But, these large floor have to have joints to allow for stress relief and expansion/contraction to prevent cracking that could lead to eventual structural failure.
These joints have always been a weak point in the flooring system for areas of heavy traffic. However, the introduction of automated lifts and carts have pushed conventional joint design past its limits. These machines are precise. So precise that the wheels never vary from the most efficient and direct path. This shows up in wear patterns in the floor. However, the real damage is to the joint. These heavy loads are concentrated on smaller wheels that make the machine
The bar for affordability of a pump for joint filling just dropped. Just because your projects are smaller, working on your hands and knees to fill floor joints shouldn’t be your only option.
Check out this updated article explaining how much more affordable pumping joint filler is now. The article is the same. But, the numbers are crazy low.
So, you’re comfortable filling floor joints on the average job. It’s easy. Just get some cartridges and start pumping. But now you’re looking at a larger project and there are far more joints to be filled than your average job. You’re adding up the cost of the cartridges you’ll need on this one and it’s a big number. Plus, you’ll need more people to install it 20 ounces at a time.
You know that these materials are available in bulk
So, you’re comfortable filling floor joints on the average job. It’s easy. Just get some cartridges and start pumping. But now you’re looking at a larger project and there are far more joints to be filled than your average job. You’re adding up the cost of the cartridges you’ll need on this one and it’s a big number. Plus, you’ll need more people to install it 20 ounces at a time.
You know that these materials are available in bulk units. But you’d need a pump and you’re not sure you’d have another need to use it again any time soon. Seems like a like a bad investment for just one job. Let’s take a look at the math for a clearer picture.
Example: Assume you have a 6” thick slab and have 7500lf of 1/8” saw cut joints. The depth of the cut is 25% or 1.5”. The average coverage for this joint is
Concrete joint sealants and joint fillers are different in both chemical formulation and intended use. Elastomeric Joint Sealants are cold-applied elastomeric single or multi-component materials used for sealing, caulking, or glazing operations on buildings, plazas, and decks for vehicular or pedestrian use, and types of construction other than highway and airfield pavements and bridges. The primary purpose of a joint sealant is to keep water, dirt, and debris out of the joint. Designed to be able to expand and contract along with the joint, sealants are relatively soft and flexible materials, typically polyurethane, silicone, or acrylic in composition.
Hard-wheeled vehicles, carts, and pallet jacks traveling over a sealant-filled joint will cause it to deflect, leaving the edges of the joint unprotected. Leading to edge cracking and spalling.
You’re comfortable doing the minor repairs yourself and you’ve gotten good at it. But this overlay of a large area has your confidence dropping and you’re not sure your people can do it. At what point should you consider hiring a contractor?
How do you feel about your teams ability to do this? Could they work with these materials for longer periods of time? Are they skilled enough for this application?
Will having this area back in service quickly be critical? Can you pull your people off their already tight schedule to do this yourself?
If you self-perform and you get in over your head, how much more will it cost in dollars and reputation to get it re-done in the end?
All those little chips in your floor joints weren’t a big deal at first. Now after years of traffic impact, they have gotten larger and now you have to address them. The rough travel is killing your forklifts but you don’t feel like you can shutdown traffic for an extensive repair. The truth is, if you have 4 hours at night or on a weekend, you can fix it permanently.
Check out a step-by-step guide to extensive joint repairs and do it yourself.
You’ve noticed that the joints in your higher traffic areas look like they’re getting wider. The edges of the concrete seem to be “chipping away.”
Now is the time to prevent any further damage to these joints. Afterall, you need the concrete floors in your plant to be in shape to support your operations for a long time and you can’t afford to replace them. Unfortunately, this is a common problem. Most concrete floors are left with joints that are open because the conventional wisdom is that these joints are small and not really affected by large rubber forklift tires. There’s also the fact that the cost of filling all of the joints is just not worth it. There’s just too many feet to fill.
Now that you’re in operation, you have established traffic patterns and that means some joints will get the brunt of the traffic
We all know that the key to the long term success of your joint sealant is it’s ability to stay bonded to the concrete sidewalls of the joint. But how do you make sure you have the best chance at superior bond in an existing joint. In one word, Prep. Preparation of the joint walls is critical and poor prep is a sure path to failure of the sealant.
Prep of your joints has to be done. And, the easier you make it, the better chance you have at success. There are many unique and high speed saws that are the latest and greatest for this job. But, you don’t have to break the bank to get it done. Chances are, you already have what you’ll need to clean and prep your joints. If you have a grinder, diamond blade, shroud and a vacuum, you have what you need.
Check out our checklist for joints and floors for a list
Sealing joints in your concrete structures is key to prolonging the life of a concrete structures. Joints in slabs are critical for relieving stress to prevent cracking but they are also the weak point when it comes to traffic. Joints in containment structures are the main route liquids take to get to the ground. Not sealing these joints could lead to reportable leaks or even undermining of the structure if not addressed immediately.
Given that these joints are outside, there are a few things you need to know before you choose a sealant so you can be sure it will last.
They are very different when it comes to the range of movement they will see especially if they are exposed to direct sunlight. Control joints relieve stress in
Maintaining the overall health and integrity of your plant’s floor may not seem like a huge part of overall operations, but it is. Everything starts on the ground floor – from foot traffic, to forklift traffic. Small cracks lead to big cracks and big cracks could lead to having to replace an entire area of the floor which could cost production time and decreased efficiency.
It would be nice if your floor was one single huge concrete pad. The reality is that a floor is made up of 100s of slabs separated by joints. The purpose of these joints – to prevent random cracking in the concrete as it shrinks. Since raw materials and finished goods need to be transported, naturally, each individual joint is a transition point that forklifts and employees must cross.
Once the corner of a joint is damaged, spalling can