Dewatering with rigid pads
Floor construction
by vacuum dewatering
Process builds high quality floors and saves time
BY HARALD WENANDER TECHNICAL DI-
RECTOR TREMIX AKTIEBOLAG NACKA,
SWEDEN JAN 0. DANIELSSEN PRESIDENT
DANCO AMERICA SAN FRANCISCO, CALI-
FORNIA F. T. SENDKER P RESIDENT B AY
TEK-KRETE, INC. NEWTONVILLE, MASSA-
CHUSETTS
V acuum dewatering gives the
floor contractor control over an
important variable the time re-
quired for the concrete to set up
firm enough to finish. Without vac-
uum this may vary from half an
hour to more than three, depending
on amount of mix water, tempera-
ture, humidity and wind. With vac-
uum, he can count on a definite
time, usually less than half an hour.
The contractor benefits by being
able to place concrete both morning
and afternoon with little or no over-
time for finishing. The concrete pro-
ducer can benefit too because the
contractor can schedule deliveries
on a definite pattern throughout the
day rather than schedule frequent
deliveries within a short period of
the morning .
The vexing problem of variation
in slump from load to load of ready
mixed concrete is of no conse-
quence when vacuum dewatering is
used because the vacuuming evens
out variations in water content.
Vacuum dewatering of concrete is
especially valuable for winter work
where job savings in heating costs
and protection can be realized. It is
also valuable during periods of un-
settled weather or in moist climates
because outdoor slab construction
can continue through mist or light
rain without damage to the work.
There is never a large area of unfin-
ished concrete exposed and freshly
placed concrete can be quickly fin-
ished and protected.
Physical properties of the slab
produced should be superior to
those of untreated ones in that
compressive and flexural
strengths are higher by about
20 to 50 percent
shrinkage is lower, permitting
use of fewer joints
wear resistance is greater
concrete is dense and water-
tight
resistance to damage by freez-
ing is higher
resistance to deicer scaling in
both air-entrained and non-
air-entrained concrete is
higher
residual moisture content is
low, permitting earlier cover-
ing with tile
Because the two-day strength of
vacuum-dewatered concrete is
greater than the five-day strength of
nontreated concrete of the same
mix, earlier removal of formwork for
structural slabs is possible.
Types of equipment
All types of equipment available
on the market today for concrete
dewatering consist of two main
parts the concrete sealing equip-
ment and the vacuum pump unit.
Concrete sealing equipment. This
is the most important of the equip-
ment and decides the end result.
There are two main typespliable
mats and rigid plates. The mats
used today consist of one or several
filter pads to be placed on the con-
crete and a top cover to completely
enclose the filter pads. The cover
projects beyond the pads by about
four inches (10 centimeters) on all
sides to provide the required seal
against the concrete.
The airtight top cover has one or
more manifolds to collect the ex-
tracted water which is then con-
veyed to the pump unit. This cover,
which may have a surface of up to
48 square yards (40 square meters)
or more, is generally rolled up on
two pipes for ease of handling. It is
light and, like the filter pads, can
easily be handled by two men.
Rigid plates are made from ply-
wood with steel or light alloy stiffen-
ers or from fiberglass-reinforced
plastic. Their general construction
is the same as that for mats: they in-
clude a filter cloth of nylon or glass
fiber as well as a spacer net and
manifolds for the water. In contrast
to the mats, which consist of two
separate parts, the plates are of uni-
tary construction. For handling and
transport reasons, they cannot be
made larger than 12 to 18 square
yards (10 to 15 square meters). In
certain cases, two or more plates
can be connected to avoid the un-
treated strips of concrete which oth-
erwise form where adjacent plates
are sealed to the concrete.
The suction plate can only treat a
certain fixed area, depending on the
size of the plate, but a mat of the
type described may be rolled out
more or less over one or more filter
pads and thus can be adapted to
surfaces of various sizes and config-
urations. When working with a large
number of units with the same di-
mensions, plates may be preferable
because of their unitary construc-
tion and because they have a ten-
dency to even out slight irregulari-
ties in the concrete surface.
Vacuum pump unit. The vacuum
unit consists of a pump, a water col-
lecting tank for the extracted water,
a filter and control equipment. All
this is generally assembled on a
A. Concrete is
placed and
vibrated.
common frame provided with
pneumatic wheels. The pump
should be capable of reaching a vac-
uum of at least 0.8 atmosphere (80
percent of maximum possible vac-
uum). It may be any of several dif-
ferent types. The most common
ones are: piston pump, vane pump
and water-ring pump. Each type has
its characteristic advantages and
disadvantages. The type of unit
shown in part B of the figure has the
water collecting tank and valves lo-
cated above the piston pump and
motor so that the waste heat from
motor and pump prevents the water
in the tank from freezing when
working in very cold conditions.
The pump capacity required usu-
ally depends on the total edge
length of the suction mat since in
practical work there is always a cer-
tain amount of air leakage along the
edge. The better the seal between
the mat and the concrete, the larger
can be the mat for a given pump ca-
pacity. When using mats, which are
easier to seal against the concrete
than plates, it is possible to use two
320-square-foot (30-square-metre)
mats simultaneously for a pump ca-
pacity of 5,500 cubic feet per hour
(2,600 liters per minute). This rep-
resents a high total edge length
about 145 feet (44 meters).
Job procedures
The figure illustrates the placing
of a concrete floor or slab with vacu-
um dewatering equipment. When
the concrete is placed it is vibrated
with immersion vibrators if the slab
thickness is more than about four
inches (10 centimeters). It is then
leveled and vibrated with a double
beam vibrating screed, which works
either on the form edges or on ele-
vated rails above the concrete (part
A of the figure). The evenness of the
concrete surface is entirely depen-
dent on the proper level of the form
edges or rails. Large discrepancies
introduced at this stage cannot be
corrected later.
The concrete surface is immedi-
ately covered with the suction mat
or plate and vacuum dewatering is
begun. The duration of the treat-
ment should be about 212 to 3 min-
utes per inch of slab thickness (one
minute per centimeter). At the left
in part B of the figure a filter pad is
being placed. In the foreground a
pad is in place with the top cover in
position. The pump unit, with its
water collecting tank on top, has
been connected to this top cover.
After the dewatering has been fin-
ished the mat is moved to a fresh
surface. It is already possible to walk
on the concrete if necessary and the
dewatered surface is immediately
floated with a power trowel fitted
with a planing disc (at the left in part
C of the figure). Workers do not walk
on the concrete unnecessarily.
After another period of time30
to 90 minutesfinal troweling can
be done using a power trowel with
blades, as at the right in part C of the

B. Filter mats are positioned and concrete is dewatered.
C. Concrete is planed or floated with power equipment At a later time, if
necessary, it is power troweled.
figure.
Where a level surface with a non-
skid texture is required, as in park-
ing decks, the troweling operation
may be omitted. Planing with the
disc may also be sufficient if the
concrete surface is later to be cov-
ered with carpeting. The time re-
quired from the placing of the con-
crete till the finishing of the surface
operations is thus one to 212 hours
depending on the surface finish re-
quired and the weather.
Finishing
The surface of the vacuum-treat-
ed concrete is generally finished in
two stages by machine because a
vacuum treated surface is generally
too hard for manual finishing. For
the first stage a power trowel is fitted
with either a planing disc or extra
large float shoes. The power planing
or floating operation aims at remov-
ing the local high spots and irregu-
larities which always occur in con-
junction with vacuum treatment.
The planing disc easily moves con-
crete from higher to lower surface
areas and leaves a flat surface. Plan-
ing should take place immediately
after vacuum treatment. If a skid-re-
sistant surface is wanted, for
garages or sidewalks, the surface is
already complete after this opera-
tion and is ready for curing only
one-half to one hour after vacuum
treatment.
If a smoother surface is specified,
a second stage must be undertaken:
power troweling. Generally it is nec-
essary to wait 30 to 90 minutes after
the planing operation before the
concrete is hard enough to support
a machine with troweling blades.
Power troweling produces a surface
that is definitely superior to what is
possible by hand because hand fin-
ishing must, for effort reasons, al-
ways take place while the surface is
fairly soft. A machine can work on a
far harder and drier surface and
subject it to extra frictional working.
Capacity of vacuum equipment
As an example of capacities
achieved in practical work, with one
make of Swedish equipment two
325-square-foot (30-square-metre)
vacuum mats can be operated si-
multaneously from one vacuum
pump unit. This makes 650 square
feet (60 square meters) per opera-
tion. For a slab of about six-inch
(150 milimeter) thickness, the treat-
ment time is approximately 15 min-
utes and, if shifting of the vacuum
mats to the next position is estimat-
ed at five minutes, the cycle time
will be 20 minutes or 1,950 square
feet (180 square meters) per hour. In
practical work there are always
snags and delays of various kinds so
the practical capacity generally is
1,300 to 1,625 square feet (1 20 to
150 square meters) per hour. During
breaks the vacuum treatment may
be left working if the work cycle is
properly organized.
If overtime is to be avoided and
three hours are allowed after the last
vacuum treatment of the day for
surface finishing and equipment
cleaning (very ample), the daily ca-
pacity is 6,500 to 8,125 square feet
(600 to 750 square meters) using
one machine unit. Practical experi-
ence shows that these figures are
readily attainable.
Mix design
Normal mix designs can generally
be used for vacuum dewatering
without any changes. If, in an un-
usual case, dewatering is difficult for
a given mix because a layer of fines
has formed at the surface and does
not let water through readily it is
practically always possible to dewa-
ter successfully by slightly reducing
the amount of fines in the aggregate.
Pumped concrete may require
slight changes in mix design if it is to
be subjected to vacuum dewatering;
howe ve r, experience from many
sites shows excellent results from
vacuum dewatering of pumped
mixes.
Admixtures
Most set-modifying and water re-
ducing admixtures have no influ-
ence on the vacuum dewatering
process. Air entraining agents, how-
ever, may make vacuum treatment
more difficult if the air content ex-
ceeds about five percent. Air voids
expand, and when present in exces-
sive numbers or size they tend to
close the capillaries so that the con-
crete will not let water through.
When using air entraining agents,
the treatment time should be in-
creased by 20 to 30 percent because
of the slower water passage.
Economy
The savings made possible by
vacuum dewatering are not quite so
easy to indicate as it might seem. In
most cases a considerable time sav-
ing is realized from the reduced
waiting time between placing and
finishing, making it possible to re-
duce or eliminate overtime. These
savings of otherwise lost waiting
time usually make vacuum dewa-
tering an economical proposition
for floors that will later be covered,
as in apartment houses, offices and
hospitals. For floors subject to wear
or weather, such as in factories,
warehouses and parking garages,
the very substantial improvements
in concrete strength, wear resis-
tance and frost resistance are addi-
tional factors that make vacuum de-
watering an economical
proposition.
In high-rise buildings where the
same forms are used repetitiously
the high early strength of vacuum
treated concrete allows the forms to
be stripped earlier, thus reducing
PUBLICATION #C750043
Copyright 1975, The Aberdeen Group
All rights reserved
the form cost. In tilt-up construc-
tion the wall panels can be raised
much earlier.
The cost of the vacuum equip-
ment per unit area of treated con-
crete is small. Labor cost to operate
it is also fairly small since the equip-
ment is easy to handle and works on
its own most of the time.
Cost of the vacuum pump unit
with electric drive and two suction
mats of 325 square feet (30 square
meters) each is about $6,000 to
$7,000. Operating costs are small,
consisting of electricity for the mo-
tor of the pump and occasional re-
placement of the filter pads, which,
with proper care, need replacing af-
ter about 100,000 to 150,000 square
feet (10,000 to 15,000 square me-
ters). The top cover of the suction
mat lasts several times longer.
There will be exhibits of vacuum de-
watering equipment at the World of
C o n c rete Exposition in Houston,
Texas February 23 to 26 (described
on page 58 of this issue). The pro-
gram will include a demonstration of
one type of such equipment.