Joints Are Key
Quality flat slabs are crucial components of commercial and industrial facilities. The ability to transport materials and products efficiently can be impeded by poor performing concrete joints, uncontrolled cracks and surface imperfections. A properly designed slab will allow equipment to travel across the surface and joints with minimal impact to the slab or the equipment itself.
Sika load transferring products have long been known as products to improve concrete joint performance, including joints in slabs. Properly designed and constructed joints are key to producing a slab that will provide the owner years of service. Often subject to internal and external stresses, these joints must be designed to withstand many forces. Proper joint design includes a dowel system to transfer loads across and manage stresses within the joint.
Construction, contraction and expansion joints all have situational applications in slabs on-grade. Knowing each have unique characteristics and construction requirements, Sika has developed dowel systems to suit all types of joints.
CONTROL JOINTS
Sika Double Tapered Basket is a patented plate dowel basket designed to accommodate axial and lateral slab movements more rapidly than other tapered basket systems. The double tapered design provides consistent and increased bearing area across every plate dowel at saw cut joints. It is a method in accordance with ACI 360 Design of Slabs-on-Ground.
CONSTRUCTION JOINTS
Sika Speed Plate is a patented plate dowel system, which immediately accommodates lateral and axial movement produced by concrete shrinkage at construction joints. Sika Speed Dowel is a patented two-component system that is far superior to traditional slip dowel methods for aligning and installing round or square dowels in construction joints.
EXPANSION JOINTS
Sika Speed Load is a patented dowel sleeve, which passes through an expansion board to accept round dowels. Speed Load provides an efficient method for installing and aligning round dowels in expansion joints that are critical to the quality of the slab.