Spec Formliners, Inc. Newsletter

On SPEC

Quarterly Newsletter

Summer 2009

Greetings!

Our second edition of On SPEC highlights trimming how-to's, innovative liner applications, and revolutionary production processes. We hope you enjoy!

Sincerely,

Jessie Deering Ullerich

Spec Formliners, Inc.

Vice President, Marketing & Communications

Revealing

Spec Formliners, Inc., not only manufacturers a plethora of formliner patterns, but we also specialize in the production of reveals and chamfers.

Our reveals and chamfers are available in both urethane and HDPE. The urethane reveals are perfect for projects that require extra wide reveals or reveals that need to bend.

HDPE produces reveals that are rigid and strong and will produce nice crisp lines.

Reveals are the perfect addition to projects that require a fluted or fractured fin texture, but want to avoid horizontal lines. When applied at the seams in the joints of the form, reveals are the finishing look to a project that maintain the artistic integrity.

411 on Liner Application
Featuring: Trimming the Liner

Most of Spec Formliners' plastic liners are shipped in 4'x10' sheets. Because plastic contracts and expands with heat, it is often necessary for the material to be trimmed. The easiest way to trim the plastic liner is with a circular hand saw (skill saw) with a fine tooth, plywood blade. If the liner is going to be butted up against a rustication strip or a reveal, the blade should be set so it is cutting the liner at a complimentary angle to the reveal.

Temperatures of 140 degrees or higher will cause permanent damage to the elasticity of the liner. The size of the liner can grow or contract 1/16" in 10' with every 10 degree change from thermal expansion. Because of the temperature changes, form liners should be applied at the same ambient temperature expected during the placement of the concrete.

For more information on the application process:
Click here for plastic or click here for urethane

Clever and Crafty
New Ways to Use Liner

Fraises

The engineers at Spec Formliners, Inc., love when they get the opportunity to work on new ways to apply form liner on a project. So when we received the request to quote concrete fraises to simulate the wooden ones used to protect fortresses, our engineers were instantly intrigued and began working up plans.

This innovative tool (pictured on right) is packaged as a set that is pieced together to make the fraises. The 3 fraise tool allows the contractors to easily cast a manageable amount of fraises at once. Once completed, the concrete fraises will bridge the gap between aesthetics and practicality and will truly illustrate the vast breadth of form liner application. To make inquires about custom tools and applications, click Here

Palmetto Expressway

palm tree

Recently, we were asked to create a custom palm tree design for the Palmetto Expressway in Florida. The project awarded us the opportunity to implement some new tool making strategies that will increase our range of production capabilities for future projects.

We were able to use our CNC machine to rapidly create templates from customer drawings. Further, because the liner needed to match up to an existing wall, we were able to expertly match photos from the customer and tool our piece to be a direct match to the pre-existing architecture.

Because the extra large panel was designed to minimize seams in the wall, we had to get innovative with our shipping methods as well. To save the customer costly oversized permit fees on a flatbed, our production staff created a triangular brace that allowed us to tilt the panel onto a standard 8' wide truck. This oversized 120" x 112" panel was a challenge from start to finish that allowed both our engineers and production crew to push boundaries and think on their feet! To view additional projects, click here

Back to Basics: Wood Grains