By Stephen Satkowski
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Far East District Public Affairs
CAMP CARROLL, South Korea - 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.