With the recent earthquake in Kaikoura and the damage to buildings in Wellington there was a lot of media debate around the appropriateness of our standards. Thankfully with the improvements since the Christchurch earthquake NZS3101, our main concrete design code, is as current as it could possibly be. Earthquakes don’t read codes and the effects in…
Beware the season of cracked slabs is upon us. For those pouring externally you are at risk during the coming months. Windy conditions with low humidity and considerable temperature changes overnight bring with it the risk of cracking prior to crack control measures being effective. In fact most cracking is not due to loading or…
A common detail by engineers is to show every second bar of secondary reinforcement (generally top mesh) cut at sawcut joints. Conslabs view is that this is just plain wrong. The engineer wants to ensure the crack occurs at the swat joint and not as a random crack but in doing so they are reducing…
We are delighted to inform you that we have agreed a business merger between Conslab Ltd and Euro Corporation Ltd. As of January 01, 2016, Conslab and Euro Corporation have been merged and Conslab will operate as a separate division of Euro Corporation. Our key managers Tim Walker, Andrew Dallas, Brian Mooney and Glyn Sutton,…
Conslab submitted the construction of the floors for the JPL Distribution Centre into this years NZ Concrete Society Awards and took out a commendation in the Technology Awards. Tim Walker (left) Conslab GM and Andrew Dallas (centre) the technical director are seen here receiving the award from the Concrete Society President Jeff Mathews. To read…
Acid and concrete floors just don’t go. The acid eats into the paste of the concrete floor gradually degrading the surface. Where we see a lot of this is in the battery charging rooms for warehouses. We get told that the new forklifts don’t have this issue but before long an older forklift is being…
Thick concrete raft slabs generate enormous heat from the hydration of the cement. Slabs such as this will be getting up to 60-70 degrees internally and will take weeks to cool down. Consideration has to be given to using as low a cement content as possible. Use 56 days strengths or use a fly ash…
In October in Rotorua at the NZ Concrete Industries Conference in Rotorua Tim Walker is presenting a paper on the concrete floor for the JPL Distribution Centre. We have included his full paper here. The JPL distribution centre in East Tamaki incorporates a 25,000 m2 post-tensioned ground floor, designed to facilitate the use of cutting edge…
How is your workload? This boom does not feel as crazy as 2007. Which is just as well as that’s when it all fell over. In fact it feels a bit patchy. This is borne out by the recent national Ready Mixed Concrete Statistics for the June quarter, up 5% over the March quarter, about…
In New Zealand the design and construction of concrete floors on steel decking is a safety issue which needs addressing. It is a regular occurrence to see instances of the decks shifting and moving during construction requiring urgent propping to allow the pour to proceed. It was exactly the same in the UK. This prompted the…