Solutions

Maintenance-free and durable ground floors

The floor of any building is arguably the most important part, since it is in constant use while the building is occupied and any problems with the floor inevitably lead to disruption. This is particularly important in large industrial and distribution buildings, which often operate 24 hours a day and seven days a week so cannot tolerate any disruption due to problems or maintenance of the floor.

The biggest problems suffered by concrete floors are random cracking (usually due to restrained shrinkage of the concrete), degradation of joints in the floor, and misalignment or “steps” at these joints, all of which can be dangerous and cause damage to material handling equipment. Such problems require rectification and repair, which is, of course, disruptive, but also the nature of current repair technologies means that they are never as durable as the original floor slab so will typically require ongoing repairs for the entire lifetime of the building.

The ideal solution for a durable and maintenance-free floor slab is to avoid any shrinkage cracking at all while also protecting and aligning the edges of formed joints in the floor and thus preventing degradation – both key features of the Peikko TERA Joint system.

How does the Peikko solution work?

The Peikko TERA Joint system is a leave-in-place formwork for casting concrete floor slabs that is accurately positioned before pouring so defines both the perimeter and the level of the slab. The design ensures minimal restraint to the concrete in both horizontal dimensions during curing and shrinkage so eliminates the main cause of cracking. The TERA Joint system also provides steel protection to the edges of the concrete, thus eliminating degradation, and employs high-strength dowels to eliminate misalignment or “steps” between adjacent slabs.

Further benefits of the TERA Joint system are that, because it is engineered to very high tolerances and is a leave-in-place solution, it is an extremely quick and accurate method of producing floor slabs when compared to other methods.

Peikko’s TERA Joint system has gone through rigorous testing programs and is rapidly becoming the standard method of producing high-quality, low-maintenance floor slabs in some of the world’s largest buildings. Let us help you make your floor slab as accurate, durable, and maintenance-free as possible.

Read more about TERA Joint and how it can help you to make the best floor possible!