Sources: Rabine Group, Schaumburg, Ill.; CP staff
High performance slab-on-grade and pavement specialist Rabine Group reports the first North American installation of the PrimeComposite Concrete Flooring System, combining proprietary finishing methods plus mixes rich in admixtures and steel fibers. As the foundation of a Lakeville, Minn., metalworking facility, the 6-in. thick, 182,000-sq.-ft. slab was finished in August, free of control joints and saw cuts. Following a 14-day cure, owner BTD Manufacturing Inc.—a component fabricator for Caterpillar, Cummins, Daimler, Deere, Terex and other heavy equipment manufacturers—placed the facility in service earlier this month.
Shakopee, Minn.-based concrete and masonry contractor Gresser Co. delivered the slab under license from Rabine Group, which is overseeing system rollout in the U.S. PrimeKss of Riga, Latvia, bills PrimeComposite as the world’s strongest and leanest jointless flooring system, and cites large warehouse, retail and industrial facility installations in more than 10 countries. As a measure of energy consumed in material production, volume and delivery and finishing, the company credits PrimeComposite’s lower carbon footprint to a thickness reduction up to 60 percent compared to a conventional, jointed slab on grade. The steel reinforcing fibers increase the structure’s flexibility, reduce crack formation, and lower joint-maintenance costs.
PrimeKss founder Janis Oslejs reported on his concept in “New Frontiers for Steel Fiber-Reinforced Concrete—Experience from the Baltics and Scandinavia,” Concrete International, May 2008. He has continued research and development on steel fiber practice, while establishing contractor licensees and partners geared to turnkey engineering and construction work. — www.primekssrabine.com; www.primekss.com