Raffin Construction performs all concrete work with our own crews. Our company was founded more than 100 years ago as a concrete contractor. With that kind of history, there isn’t a concrete challenge we haven’t faced. Whether it’s pouring a sidewalk for the entrance of a local church or pouring a foundation meant to support a 6,000 ton forging press, we can meet your concrete needs.
Concrete Foundations
Every building needs a solid foundation, and nothing is more solid than concrete. The purpose of a building foundation is to evenly distribute and transfer the weight, or load, of the building into the ground. Building foundations can vary in complexity depending on the building load and the soil below.
Simple, shallow foundations transfer the building’s loads through a spread footing pad or a continuous footing pad into the ground below. Usually in this case, the soils below are granular or stiff clay soils.
More complex foundation systems work to transfer the load deep into the ground below. The load is transferred using either a deep concrete column in the ground, called a caisson, or a steel column driven into the ground, called a pile. The building is built on top of concrete caps and grade beams that encase the top of the caissons and piles. The building loads are transferred down into the deep foundation system, into either a strong layer of soil below or a layer of bedrock.
After laying the foundation, a concrete floor slab must be laid. The building’s concrete floor slab is typically a simple concrete slab placed directly onto the ground. The challenges for the slab depend on the proposed floor finishes (such as tile, carpet, or polished concrete) and the moisture mitigation that is therefore involved. Most floor slabs have a 6 to 15 mil. thick plastic vapor barrier to keep moisture from migrating up from the sub-base below to the surface of the slab. In some instances, depending on the construction schedule, admixtures can be added to the concrete to trap the internal moisture inside the slab and keep it from reaching the surface.
Logistically Challenging Concrete
Raffin is highly experienced in forming and placing concrete for logistically challenging projects. These projects are typically in high-rise buildings in busy urban downtown settings. Interior buildout modifications done to upper floors of a high rise building often involve either infilling existing floor openings with concrete or creating new concrete openings for stairs, mechanical, etc.
The need for additional space in these buildings may involve adding mezzanine composite deck levels between floors. New or modified mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems often require concrete pads to support equipment, encasing with concrete elevated electrical conduit runs, and patching slab cuts for underground pipe runs.
This work will usually require bringing concrete ready-mix trucks into a building’s loading dock. Concrete buggies are then used to wheel concrete into the freight elevators and up to the required floor. Another option is to pump concrete from street level through a hose to the correct floor.
These projects require proper planning, coordinating with building operations personnel, specialty city permits, and knowledge of the particular urban environment. Choosing a contractor such as Raffin who has the experience doing this logistically challenging work is critical to a successful project.
Industrial Press Foundations
Heavy industrial concrete projects usually involve large equipment foundations which often have deep excavated pits. Raffin Construction has the experience and expertise to design and build these large, deep, and complicated foundations while meeting demanding production schedules. We work in your plant’s production environment and operate to minimize interruptions.
Heavy industrial equipment foundations can vary greatly in size and complexity. Larger press foundations have a concrete pit in which the base of the press sits. These presses have large dynamic loads, so the foundations are designed to have thick concrete bases, walls, and pedestals for the press to bear on. Large steel weldments are commonly embedded in the concrete. Additionally, many presses are installed with isolation material, pads, and/or bearings which dampen the presses dynamic loads. These all need to be taken into consideration when designing press foundations.
For all press foundations, the large concrete base serves to transfer the press loads into the soils below. Therefore, a soils investigation report is necessary and is prepared by analyzing soil borings. The pits for press foundations are deep enough that they usually require an earth retention system which must be designed to take into consideration the surrounding building foundation loads. The experts at Raffin Construction can help you understand all the requirements and details to properly design and construct your concrete press foundation.
Slitter Line and Leveler/Straightener Foundations
These complex foundations require special attention and engineering because of how heavy the equipment is and the work the equipment accomplishes. Slitter line foundations support the machinery that slits larger steel coils into narrower coils for further steel processing. These foundations commonly have a looping pit which varies in depth from 10’ to 40’ deep depending on the size of the slitter and the thickness of the material that is being slit.
The pits can be very complex to construct. They require an earth retention system or another construction method to deal with the soil retention during construction. They are also often deeper than the water table, which means they require a specially designed dewatering system. Raffin has extensive experience designing and constructing concrete foundations for slitter lines. Our concrete expertise combined with our industry knowledge and experience make us the right choice to construct your slitter line foundation.
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Tube Mills, Bar Lines, Steel Processing Line Foundations
Raffin has extensive experience designing and constructing foundations for tube mills, bar mills, runout and bundling lines, and many other heavy industrial equipment foundations. All these concrete foundations involve complex geometry with multiple elevation changes. They typically require the installation of heavy steel embedments, large anchor bolts, cooling pits, and trenches. Accuracy and precision are essential when setting these items. Raffin has the personnel with the experience to perform this kind of layout.
Because of the heavy electrical demand of this type of equipment, the design and construction of these foundations must accommodate large electrical conduit runs. Proper coordination with the other trades involved in the construction (electrical, hydraulic piping, equipment installation, etc.) is critical to the project’s success.
When installing a new press in your facility, it’s important to choose a contractor with specific experience designing and constructing these types of heavy equipment foundations. Raffin has engineers on staff who are experienced in designing these types of foundations. Our team can provide a turnkey solution to your press foundation project.