During the construction of structures and buildings, hollow walls are often made of reinforced concrete. However, few people know what kind of walls they are and what their characteristics are. Therefore, before using these structures for construction, it is worth studying all their features.
Types of reinforced concrete slabs
Depending on the composition and type of construction, reinforced concrete slabs are of the following types:
- Reinforced concrete slabs with solid construction. These products are available in different sizes. Their length varies between 1790-6260 mm, width 1200-4500 mm, and thickness 120 mm, 170 mm, 210 mm. This type of product has a large mass. Their weight depends on the size of the slab itself and ranges from 0.625 tons to 3.7 tons. The height dimension reaches 220 mm. These products are used for covering walls in residential and public buildings.
- Slabs with round voids. These are also quite large structures. Plates with a width of 100 mm have a length of 240-1200 mm, with a widthin 120 mm - 170-890 mm, with a width of 150 mm - 240-890 mm. Their height reaches a maximum of 220 mm. But unlike a solid floor slab, reinforced concrete multi-hollow slabs have good sound insulation and thermal insulation. These indicators are provided due to the presence of voids in the inner part of the slab.
- Special purpose plates. These designs are suitable only for balconies, loggias, bay windows and overlapping plumbing units. Their difference lies in the fact that the design has special holes for laying pipes. The height of these structures is 200 mm.
- Slabs with ribbed structure. They are used to cover brick residential and public buildings, and are also very often used to equip the supporting base of the roof. They are very large. Their length can reach up to 18 meters, width - 3 meters, and height - from 600 mm to 800 mm.
- Spread floor slabs. They are installed between the columns of buildings. These slabs are up to 1.5 meters long.
- Heavy concrete slabs. These structures are installed between the columns on the ground floor.
Features of hollow core slab walls
Currently, hollow core slabs are used in the construction of the walls of many buildings, including residential buildings. This is understandable, because reinforced concrete hollow walls have the best characteristics and qualities.
It is worth paying special attention to the following features of these designs:
- Due to the fact that there are voids in the panels, they are very easy toinstalled and the load on the walls is greatly reduced.
- Voids provide good thermal insulation, and therefore the walls do not need to be additionally insulated.
- Another good feature is the soundproofing. Despite the fact that the thickness of the reinforced concrete walls does not change, the sound insulation is very high. Outside sounds and noise hardly penetrate through the walls.
Slab selection criteria for hollow core walls
It is especially important to choose the right structures for the construction of hollow walls. Therefore, before you start making hollow walls from reinforced concrete, you should pay attention to the properties of the plates.
Many people think that they differ only in parameters and sizes, but this is not entirely true. Hollow core panels also have distinctive characteristics that are useful in the construction of houses and public buildings.
Distinguishing criteria for hollow core panels
- The first distinguishing characteristic is the method of reinforcement. Depending on the type of slab, reinforcement can be either prestressed or non-prestressed. Especially often in construction, panels with prestressed reinforcement are used.
- Another important feature is the number of sides of the support of the entire structure. Basically, all hollow structures allow support only on two short sides. But sometimes there are structures with supports on three or four sides.
- Worth itpay attention to the way the plates are made. Basically, hollow reinforced concrete slabs are produced with two markings PC or PB. Depending on this, the method of manufacturing the design of these products is different.
Differences between PB hollow core panels and PC
Panels under the PB brand are made by casting continuous formwork. They have a flat and smooth surface, and they almost do not crack. These designs use capital construction. Reinforced concrete slabs of this type can be easily cut lengthwise or into separate pieces, and they can also be beveled at an angle of 30 to 90 degrees. At the same time, their supporting structure is not violated. These properties make it much easier to work on the construction site.
PK-branded slabs are cast in formwork. With a length of up to 4.2 meters, they can be produced without prestressed reinforcement. In addition, they have free deflection.
Features of slab installation during the construction of hollow core walls
Of course, in order for reinforced concrete hollow walls to be strong and strong, panels must be installed correctly.
Installation of hollow walls consists of the following steps:
- Since hollow core slabs of the PB brand have no mounting loops for mounting, the loading and unloading of these structures should be carried out using soft chocks or a special traverse.
- In order to pull the chalk out from under the panel, it is necessary to leave a small gap to the next panel during laying. Next, the already installed plate should be movedcrowbar to the next panel.
- It is worth observing the value of the minimum depth of support for the structure. These figures depend on the type of wall. For example, for brick walls, the minimum depth should be 8 cm, and the largest 16 cm, for a reinforced concrete wall, respectively, 7 cm and 12, for gas and foam concrete blocks - from 10 to 15, for steel structures - 7 cm.
- Before you start installing the panels, you need to hammer the ends of the holes with voids. Voids can be sealed with pieces of wood or fragments of bricks. This is done to prevent water from entering the structure. Due to this, the service life of hollow walls increases, they do not crack, do not crumble.
- After the slabs are fully installed, it is necessary to anchor and fill the cracks with cement. For PC marking plates, the anchor is hooked onto the mounting eye and the void is filled with cement.
Also, before proceeding with the installation of hollow structures, you should order a crane. It is important to take into account the size of the access ways, the maximum possible outreach of the truck crane and the possibility of the permissible weight of the crane.
Cost of hollow core reinforced concrete structures
Few people know how much hollow-core reinforced concrete costs, the price of this product is different everywhere. Of course, it all depends on the quality and design of this product.
PK brand plate costs from 2 to 12 thousand rubles. And panels of the PB brand cost from 1500 to 15 thousand rubles. The cost of these products depends on the size of the structure, quality and composition. The better and larger the plate,the higher the price of the product.
