CG Flooring Systems (CGFS) has completed upgrading the 6000 sq m floor of an iron foundry to narrow-aisle warehouse standard suitable for racking up to 12 metres high, in less than six weeks.
Baxi, which makes space and water heating products, decided to close the cast iron foundry at its plant near Preston, Lancashire, and use most of the building as its central warehouse.
A survey revealed several 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 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 500 sq m 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 about one thousand 600mm-long dowel bars were inserted in the walls to provide a load transfer mechanism to support the new floor. Nearly 100 sq m of concrete was poured in five hours to bring the pits up to floor level.
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 to reduce the potential for cracking caused by substrate movement. Finally, a clear acrylic seal was applied to the entire surface.
