Every smart contractor knows that investing in the right forms is a sure way of saving money and time. Formworks take up huge construction time and eat up to 20-25% of the total construction budget. So, if you’re looking for success in your new project, choosing the right formwork will increase your safety, quality, cost, and speed.
Plastic reusable concrete forms are the most ideal, versatile forms as compared to other edging materials such as wood forms. They will give you the immense versatility to work with tight radiuses and sweeping curves that are common in today’s designs.
Just like many innovations in the construction industry, reusable plastic forms are intended to offer solutions. And a better and superior way of doing things. But why use them when wood has worked for years? Does it offer you more benefits and freedom than other materials? Read on to learn more about poly meta forms.
Material
While wood forms are made of rough lumber, poly meta forms are made of a durable material called High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE). You can always rinse your poly with brush and a garden hose or recycle it with other plastics in case you want to dispose of.
Wood will absorb moisture, leading to rot and splinter. You’ll also need to scrap wood on every use to remove any concrete build-up. This cleaning process often eats into valuable working time, and so does transport and disposing of used up lumber.
Reuse
You can purchase the plastic forms once, and reuse them for over 150 times. This means you won’t have to spend more money unnecessarily. With wood forms, you will have to keep visiting the lumberyard in your locality for new wood forms. Wood forms can only be reused up to a maximum of 3 times. In other words, the reusable plastic concrete forms will save you money and time again.
Size
Reusable poly meta forms come in different sizes. You can be guaranteed to find the 2" x 4" x 12’ and the 2" x 6" x 12’ sizes. These sizes can be further fixed and fitted, allowing contractors to achieve varying heights and sizes. On the other hand, you can’t be guaranteed to find the 1-1/2" x 3.5" x 12’ and the 1-1/2" x 5.5" x 12’ sizes of the wood forms.
Quality
The uniform straightness of the reusable plastic concrete forms is unrivaled. With the numerous, naturally occurring knots and warps in wood forms, you may not easily find good quality lumber. Polyforms are supplied in secure, reusable plastic buckets, unlike other materials.
Weight
The poly meta forms are 50% lighter compared to wood forms. Furthermore, wood gains weight over time by absorbing concrete and moisture, unlike poly. Obviously, handling more massive forms attracts some extra cost.
Typically, poly is less cumbersome to transport and handle. Despite being available in different sizes, reusable polyforms are lighter than wood and easier to work with. It’s much faster to set up poly, hence massively decreasing the time it takes your crew to assemble the formwork.
Stripping
Stripping plastic concrete forms takes half the time it takes to strip wood forms. You simply loosen the wedge and lift your plastic concrete forms. Since there is no adhesion of the concrete to poly, it is much faster to remove the stakes and do the finishing.
The process of stripping wood and doing finishing operations is burdensome as concrete adheres to wood. You can adjust the elevation to vertical and horizontal positions depending on your preferences by simply loosening the wedge. But, with wood forms, you have to remove the nails to make any adjustments.
Bottom Line?
Use of reusable plastic forms for concrete construction has many advantages, from reusability, durability, flexibility, time and cost compared to other formworks. Plastic formworks can be assembled, dismantled and handled easily by labor, hence cutting down massive labor force, time and costs of the project.
SUBSCRIBE