World-class Warehouse

Floors

Neil Williamson

BSc CEng MICE

Managing Director

Monofloor Technology Limited, UK

to

Godfrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co Ltd,

Mumbai, May 2012

Why is the floor so important?

• IT SUPPORTS ALL THE OPERATIONS

CARRIED OUT IN THE WAREHOUSE

• If a floor slab goes wrong then these operations

are disrupted (at best), or stopped (at worst).

• Repairs are expensive and cause disruption.

• If the floor is not flat enough the MHE runs

slower – or there are accidents & safety issues

• A poor floor lowers value and increases the

maintenance and dilapidation costs

Monofloor Technology Ltd

• Founded 1994 to provide consulting & site

supervision services to UK investors in new markets

• Principal is Neil Williamson now with over 28 years

experience in Concrete Industrial Floors

• All site supervisors have a minimum of 10 years

practical floor contracting experience

• Our Asia headquarters is in Singapore

• > 70% of turnover is outside of UK

The clients' concerns

• Joints – the number,

type and location

• Floor tolerances – is

the floor flat enough?

• Abrasion resistance-

is the floor able to

withstand the traffic?

• Does the floor look

good & is easy to

maintain & clean?

Client Expectations

Best Practice in Design

1. Locate the construction

joints under racking for strip

construction of VNA facilities

2. Limit the number of joints

in marshalling areas, e.g. in

this case it was achieved by

designing the floor in 900m2

panels without sawn joints.

3. Armour the 'daily' joints

World-class Solutions to

Construction Joint Problems

These profiles prevent edges of

the joints from spalling. This is

particularly important in case of

placing large areas & joint-less

floors where joints open wider.

These Steel armoured profiles

produced by Permaban Limited

in Europe protect the edges of

concrete at construction joints.

Choosing the Right Specification

• Is truck movement Defined

(by rack position) or Free

(the trucks can turn in aisle

or move in multi-directions)

• Is racking position certain?

• Future changes of use?

• Racking (or potential

racking) height

• Important: In general the

flatter the floor is the more

joints there are likely to be

Floor Flatness Specifications

� DIN 18-202 & 15-185

� F Numbers, Fmin (US)

� CSTR 34 (UK)

Free Movement Categories

� FM1, FM2, FM2 Special,

FM3

Defined Movement

� 3 Categories depend on

racking height

�EN 15620: Racking Code

TR34 Defined Movement:

Which Specification?

• Racking height < 8m

(defined movement)

• Racking height < 13m

(defined movement)

• Racking height > 13m

(defined movement)

• Potential Racking 8-

13m Layout not known

• Wide aisle, Racks >8m

• Construct to Category 2

(TR34:2003 Table 4.3)

• Construct to Category 1

(TR34:2003 Table 4.3)

• Construct to ‘Superflat’

(TR34:2003 Table 4.3)

• Construct to FM2 Special

• Construct to FM2

Definitions of TR34 Properties

All allowable limits shown in millimetres Column A = “95% property limit” Column B = “100% property limit” The pour will be considered satisfactory when: a) not more than 5% of the measurements exceed the particular property limit in column A b) none of the measurements exceed the particular property limit in column B

Diagrams showing measurements taken for Table 7.1 Properties

Property I Property II Property III

300mm

300mm 300mm

II

Wheel Track

III

Difference in elevation over 300 mm.

Difference in slope over 600 mm. Difference in elevation across

wheel track

Defined Movement - How Flat? Extract from Concrete Society Technical Report (2nd Edition, 1994)

Table 7.1 ‘Allowable Values of the properties of flatness for defined movement areas’

Category Allowable Limits

Property I Property II Property III

Wheel trackup to 1.5 m.

Wheel track over1.5 m.

A B A B A B A B

Superflat 0.75 1 1 1.5 1.5 2.5 2 3

Category 1 1.5 2.5 2.5 3.5 2.5 3.5 3 4.5

Category 2 2.5 4 3.25 5 3.5 5 4 6

NOTE: Retained in Concrete Society Technical Report (3rd Edition, 2003) asTable 4.3 ‘Allowable Values of the properties of flatness for defined

movement areas’

Other Defined Movement

Specifications• DIN15-185 Below & above

6m lift height – 4 categories

depending on track width.

E.g. transverse allowance =

2mm for track width 1-1.5m

• DM1/DM2/DM3 as per EN

15620. Includes rate of

change of Tr34 Property III

and measures front to back

• Fmin (normally 80+) –

similar principle to DM1/

DM2 etc., expressed as no.

New: FEM Standard – as DIN

Plus short wavelength measure

Free Movement Areas

� FM1 – Only used for floors requiring very

high levels of flatness – some GV’s

� FM2 Special – Where building height is

over 11m or so, and there is the possibility

of future VNA use

• FM2 – Normal standard for wide-aisle

warehouses where lift height is over 8m

• FM3 – Basic specification for retail / cash &

carry, non-critical floors

• FF25/FL20 and above depending on use

(FM1 = FL46). Normally FF>FL

• DIN 18202 Table 3, Line 4

• FM specification of EN15620 –based TR34

World-class Super-flat Floors

• Monofloor are specialists in

training teams for this critical

work. These floors are needed

for VNA warehouses

• Normally little or NO grinding

is required after training of the

team. Grinding can affect long-

term flexibility of the facility

and be unsightly, or dusty.

• Floors should be constructed to

recognised international

specifications, such as CSTR34

This floor to a pharmaceutical

warehouse was constructed by an

inexperienced team to TR34 Super-

flat tolerance under MTL guidance

Superflat Floor Construction

� True Superflat floors

can only be constructed

using long-strip method

� Not possible with large

area pouring without a

lot of expensive grinding

� Flatness to be checked

daily, and/or supervised

by specialist consultant These tools are essential for S-F

Essential Floor Flatness

Control

Monofloor FloorPro

The flatness should be checked daily

after the first two or three pours

If the floor does not meet the

specification, the methods, equipment

or the concrete mix should be changed

and the next pours checked daily until

OK.- DO NOT WAIT UNTIL END -

Thereafter surveys should be every

few days

IF FLOOR IS NOT CHECKED IT MAY ONLY BE AFTER RACKS ARE UP AND TRUCKS TESTED THAT THE PROBLEM SHOWS

Floor Survey Reports

Confirming Abrasion

Resistance:

• Testing against

required classification

of BS8204-2 & TR34

• In UK tested using

accelerated abrasion

testing apparatus

• There are other test

methods in EN 13813

e.g. Bohme

Key points to Avoid Grinding or

Slowly Operating VNA Trucks

• Concrete quality & consistency

• Preciseness with datums and setting up

• Well trained, skilled operatives

• Experienced supervision

• Checking, re-checking and checking again

• Early survey to monitor performance

• Review surveys and make improvements

Meeting Expectations

• MTL ensure specification is

appropriate to use

• Monofloor technicians know

how to tune and control concrete

mixes

• Monofloor can train

inexperienced teams and help

others to improve

• Monofloor are on site to help to

ensure the work is done ‘right

first time’

Monofloor Service

• Agree the specification with client's

representative

• Provide tender scheme including outline design

• Review or advise on flooring contractor

proposals

• Assess the concrete & other suppliers

• Design or specify formwork and joint details

• Train & Supervise the team

• Survey & certification of the floor

Other Services

• Defects diagnosis

• Floor flatness surveys & Rectification advice

• Specifications, Quality Plan and supervision – e.g.

Renaissance Bhiwandi

• Expert Witness work

• Internal and External Concrete

• Joint-less and Super-flat floor specialists