In the mid-1970s, warehouse operators began using some density storage configurations that are significantly higher than those used in previous years. This idea was created mainly for the optimization of the management of operations and the storage of materials, as well as the minimization of any investment in land. Conventional construction methods have become inadequate as the years have passed, and were unable to produce the ideal floor flatness or floor surfaces necessary to support any sophisticated modern forklift operation. In such an industry, modern times call for some high racks, narrow aisles, defined traffic, and wire-guided environments to ensure the success of any of your warehouse operations.
With the correct flatness of the concrete floor (if you don’t accept the word ‘perfect’), great benefits can be achieved, such as having a safe operating environment, low cost and high performance. Super flat floors have the ability to have tighter tolerances compared to conventional floor slabs. With the discovery of f-number measurement, the world is a lot easier (at least for warehouse owners and operators). The ‘Fmin’ is a highly specialized tolerance system responsible for delivering the proper measurement of floor flatness. It is based on the definition of the maximum observed variation in the ground surface for a given forklift only. By optimizing your floor area, your forklift’s operating performance won’t simply suffer. Whereas if you’re still stuck with conventional floor surfaces, a modern, specialized forklift operation would mean higher maintenance costs and higher risks of picking issues, especially some shelf impacts.
Remarkable control of these highly accurate longitudinal and transverse tolerances can be achieved by pouring concrete in some narrow strips using specialized materials, forms and construction methods/forms. A given FF30/FL20 warehouse floor could be considered a traffic floor tolerance that is moderately flat. An FF110/FL117 warehouse floor profile shows the typical levelness or flatness of the ideal modern flat floor. The Fmin system of the definition of tolerance, as well as the measurement, could detect any defects based on the reading (if there is an excess of the maximum number of the allowed variation, then it needs to be rectified).
There are, of course, particular things that are highly recommended to building owners as well as representatives when they are still in the process of designing and specifying super flat building floors. The first is that floor tolerances must be measured daily. Once measurements are not taken, there is simply no way to detect any possible or existing defects in the construction. Simply put, if your building’s flooring is not measured correctly or not measured at all, then the quality of your building’s flooring could be totally unknown.
The next thing is to make sure that the embedded continuous steel has been placed in a place where it will not interfere with any guide wires. Make a design for the longitudinal shrinkage stresses and also some applied loads. Given this type of flooring, transverse cracks are very likely to occur. Therefore, design must carefully consider some longitudinal shrinkage stresses to constrain crack widths. Also, if your floor is designed for an environment with wheel path traffic that is already defined as well as cable guided, then Fmin tolerances should be applied.
