THE VALUE OF ECO-FRIENDLY LIGHTWEIGHT SUSPENDED CONCRETE ECO SLAB SYSTEM REPLACING CONVENTIONAL CONCRETE SLABS

With ever increasing building costs, the requirement for rapid building and greater awareness of energy conservation as an important aspect of building design, expanded polystyrene (EPS) is becoming increasingly used in modern day construction.
The Pro.com Eco-Slab (PES) uses the properties of EPS - thermal and sound insulation, lightweight, accuracy in moulding and cost competitiveness as the cornerstone of a patented multi storey floor slab system.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

PES is a combination of a moulded EPS block and cold rolled steel channel to form a ‘rib and block’/coffer slab system for multi storey buildings.
The system comprises a priority high strength galvanized steel rib which supports the high density PES EPS void formers.

The system is completed by the placement of reinforcing bars between the PES blocks in both directions, reinforcing mesh above the blocks and concrete to fill the channels, encapsulate the rebar and mesh to form the structure of the floor slab.
The beams which are created by the concrete infill and rebar in the gaps between the PES blocks creates a monolithic structure.

The PES void formers are left in place and act both as a thermal and sound insulator.

SYSTEM APPLICATION

1) The floor slab is designed taking into account the span and load bearing requirements combining the variables of rebar size and configuration, concrete beam depth – which can be controlled by the PES block depth, and the horizontal floor slab and reinforcing mesh.

2) Support wall structures are built as normal.

3) Steel ribs are placed uni-directionally onto the supporting walls. These are propped at 1,6 meter intervals to support the wet concrete and construction loading.

4) Steel reinforcing is fitted between the PES blocks in both directions.

5) Steel reinforcing mesh is placed above the blocks on EPS spacers to position the mesh near the surface of the concrete slab.
6) If needed, formwork is placed around the perimeter of the floor area and service ducts to confine the concrete pour.

7) Concrete is poured to complete the slab.

8) Ceilings can be either suspended or plastered with Polyplast, propriety EPS plaster system, available from Pro.com Eco-Slabs.

PES can be used in the following application areas:
- double storey residential
- multi storey commercial buildings
- hotels
- flats, duplexes and apartment buildings
- shopping centers
- suspended ground floor slabs
- renovations

PRODUCT BENEFITS

Lightweight
All the components of PES are lightweight and can easily be installed without cranes, lifting equipment or excessive labour.

PES is approximately 35% lighter than competitive concrete rib and block systems. This equates to a saving of about 150kg/m2.

Skylights are easy to install by leaving out PES blocks and creating edge formers from cold rolled steel sections.

PRODUCT SPECIFICATION

System design:
Design PES floor slabs as per procedure laid down in SANS10100 section 4,5 design code.

PES block dimensions:

EPS Density: 20gm/lt

Fire retardant: Yes

Thermal Resistance:           U-value of 255mm slab  0,48Wm²K
                                            R-value 0f 255mm slab  2.1m²K/W
Channels: 150 x 65 x 20 x 1,4mm 350 MPa min. yield pre-galvanized cold rolled steel..

Finishing

1. Apply the special EPS plaster system . The bottom of the blocks have a 5mm dovetail groove to help hold the plaster when plasteringThe EPS plaster is applied in a two stage process with a scratch coat applied on day 1 and the finish coat on day. 1:2. The plastert has excellent adhesion to both the steel rib and the polystyrene TASS blocks, can be smooth finished and does not crack over time.
2. Fit a suspended ceiling. The droppers are fixed to the underside of the steel channel which run at 600mm centers.
3. Paint the ceiling. For parkades and basements which do not need a high aesthetic finish the under side of the blocks can be painted with any high quality, acrylic, water based paint. components fit closely together and the underside is therefore flat, a painted finish is perfectly acceptable.