For the construction sector, precast concrete offers an incredibly accurate, fast, and efficient method of manufacturing concrete products. Comprehending the factors contributing to precast concrete’s increased effectiveness will help designers assess how best to use precast in a building’s design.
All the parts of a building may be constructed using precast concrete components. Precast columns, load-bearing precast walls with double tee beams, and hollow-core flooring are examples of this architectural strategy. It offers a great deal of benefits, particularly when panels are used to cover the complete building shell.
The following are seven advantages regarding the efficiency of using a total precast system.
High Quality
Precast concrete fabricators with PCI Certification are subject to two yearly surprise inspections that evaluate over 120 manufacturing and quality-control procedures. Tight control guarantees that components are manufactured with consistent size, quality, and uniformity. This speeds up construction by lowering the site work needed for final designer and owner approvals and ensuring components require minimum field adjustment.
Safety
Plant casting improves worker safety and logistics by keeping the building site cleaner and removing trades from the area. Having a clean site is very important in densely populated locations and on existing sites where businesses may continue operating.
Design Flexibility
Precast concrete techniques enable buildings to change to meet the demands of their users. 45 to 50-foot double tee spans decrease the requirement for interior columns with cast-in-place systems and match standard composite steel framing. With a maximum span of 70 feet, precast spans offer special possibilities for demanding interior specifications. Additionally, precast offers excellent floor-loading capacity at a minimal additional expense.
Green Design
There are several advantages for the environment using precast concrete. It produces no trash on the job site and can be made locally. Environmental friendliness is further promoted by cement reducers such as fly ash and other admixtures.
Its exceptional resilience also allows it to outlast designs made with other construction materials in terms of overall service life. Precast concrete goods and constructions offer increased resistance against environmental factors such as rain, wind, fire, and mold. Precast concrete even resists deterioration and earthquakes, allowing for lower maintenance costs and financial savings.
Schedule Advantages
Precast concrete’s ability to withstand bad weather is one of its biggest advantages. Weather conditions like rain, snow, or extremely high temperatures can cause delays for traditional on-site concrete work. Because precast concrete components are made indoors, bad weather has no effect on them. This dependability is priceless since it lowers the possibility of expensive delays and helps to create more predictable project timetables.
Repeatability
Architectural features repeated in a construction project can be mass-produced efficiently when made from precast. This is a big benefit for projects like parking garages or multi-story structures since it makes it easier to produce and install identical components efficiently because it can be done swiftly and correctly.
Better Project Management
Utilizing precast concrete facilitates improved project management and planning. Project managers can better organize delivery and installation as components are made off-site in accordance with rigid manufacturing schedules. Better resource allocation made possible by this enhanced control over the building process results in higher efficiency and further time savings.
Precast is Efficient
Because of its many advantages, precast concrete has become popular in the building sector. The industry has witnessed its capacity to withstand adverse weather conditions, as well as its influence on simultaneous production, repeatability, shortened curing times, and improved project management—all of which result in significant time savings. Precast concrete is an essential tool in the contemporary construction industry as it can increase production, shorten project delivery times, and ultimately result in improved efficiency.
