Agustin Escámez, Technical Director of Monofloor, and Ramon Badell, head of Bekaert, recently presented a conference seminar together about jointless flooring and volumetric control. 

Organised by the Catalonian Engineers Association, the event was held on 22nd February at the Association’s premises in Barcelona.  Sixty professionals attended for the training seminar, one of several professional development events hosted regularly by the association for its members throughout the year.  Agustin speaks regularly at these events, and the topic on this occasion was “A new generation of jointless flooring and shrinkage control additives.” 

Agustin began by explaining the history of jointless floors, and how market demand for these has grown strongly in recent years. 

Jointless floors are constructed by pouring larger bays of concrete, without the need to add saw-cut control joints into the finished floor’s surface.  The forces which cause the fresh concrete to shrink while curing are controlled in other ways, typically by including steel fibres and additives in the concrete mix to prevent the floor from cracking.

The result is a floor which requires less maintenance than a conventional floor.  The building is more versatile in how it can be used, as the configuration is not determined by the position of joints.

As companies strive to reduce operational downtime, any such measures which keep the floor in good working order and with minimal maintenance are welcomed by industry.

Ramon Badell of Bekaert then explained the role of fibres in helping to control shrinkage when creating a jointless floor. 

He described the various types of concrete fibres on the market, highlighting that fibres can reduce the width of concrete cracks to as little as 0.1mm, and that slender fibres tend to perform the best. 

He also described the Bekaert range of steel fibres, used worldwide, and well known by the brand names 3D, 4D and 5D.

Jointless floors have numerous other benefits.  Curling at the corners of the slab is prevented, load transfer is improved, concrete resistance increases, and floors are more attractive. 

This link gives more information about the presentation, and a copy of the slides can also be downloaded.