Someone got me thinking more and more about the notion of doing ‘loft projects’ in which the reality was new construction made to appear like a renovated commercial space. Near my home there have been several distribution building going up that use precast concete panels. These are typically for structures with 15-20′ tall ceiling buildings, but I do not think they are designed for more than a single story.
Has anyone seen a precast-based faux-loft construction before? Do they offer precast flooring for on-ground flooring (I’ve seen precast gor commercial garage floors and imagine they are hollow-core)? I’m curious about the costs vs. time-savings for construction.
Replies
your are refer'n to what we call "tilt up" and they are doing some really cool tilt ups just south of me.. ie: stamping the concrete to look like stone ect... most around here are cast on site... they build/pour part of the slab and that becomes the bottom of the "mold" for the cast walls... I'm guessing if you took your time and thought it out you could place a design/pattern on the bottom to get an effect on both sides of the concrete... but then you still have an insulation issue...
off the subject...
A guy i know did his own tilt up warehouse using surplus 4" or 5" steel channel welded into 5ft x20ft sections welded in hog wire fence and filled each section with concrete... I know the 1 1/4 yard u haul concrete buggies did one section, per his design... at the time he told me it cost about $150 per section.....he then lifted each into place and welded them together (the steel stayed with each section) his last warehouse had burned and he wasn't doing that deal again... kinda crude but in the end turned out ok and his building appraised as a concrete tilt up and his insurance reflected that also...
one of my next projects for next door to my loft project is 6 single family homes (6 25ft x 125ft lots) at this point the design calls for a flat brick 24ft tall fasade to look like what you'd expect to see on an old single use free standing commerical buildings that people use to have their business downstairs and live above... it will be brick veneer but have the look off an all brick structure... the footprint of each unit will be aprox 20x80 with a 2 car garage and small yard in the rear... parapit walled shed metal roofs on a truss roof system that falls to the rear... only the front will be brick the rest will be hardie board of some type... sure they will have a balcony on front... maybe a roof deck over the garage in the rear...
these will be faux something... but i'm sure they will build 20x faster than restore'n old...
p
p
Tilt-ups, I'll have to remember that and the aspect of making the precasts onsight (how logical!). BTW, where are you geographically? Also, for tilt-ups what are some of the common methods for creating floors within a 20' tall shell?
Just thinking off the top of my head.But I wonder if you could do a 3 layer tiltup with foam in the middle. Sorta of like the Dow T-mass.Not sure how you would do it.