VDF flooring is also known as Vacuum Dewatered Flooring, trimix flooring, monolithic industrial flooring, or tremix flooring. VDF flooring helps to provide high strength and a longer life span to the floors. It is a fast method of laying down floors at any place.
With the VDF flooring method, you can get a better finish on the floors than normal concrete floors. The floor made from this technique is suitable for rough usage and heavy traffic movement. This makes VDF flooring a great option for application in public areas.
VDF flooring is a better option than normal concrete flooring as it has a lot of advantages over normal concrete floors. This is the reason many industries, warehouses, storehouses, pharmaceutical companies, etc, prefer to use this flooring over normal concrete flooring.
What Is VDF Flooring?
VDF flooring is a high-quality flooring technique in which the surplus water present in the concrete is first vibrated and then removed with the help of a vacuum pump. This process helps in reducing the water content in the cement mix to an appropriate required level.
The process of removing water after immediate placement of the concrete floor aids in improving the qualities of concrete. This process helps the flooring to get proper strength and a good final finish. It provides a cost-effective and durable option for flooring.
VDF Flooring Process
- The first step in laying down the VDF flooring is to clean the whole area. After that, a base of plain cement concrete is laid down.
- Then reinforcement steel bars are fixed with the provision of dowel bars. These short steel bars provide a mechanical connection between the slabs.
- After the reinforcement placement, the channels are fixed at about 3 to 4 meter space, depending on the required thickness of the flooring.
- Generally, M20 to M30 grade of concrete is used, this concrete is poured on the base and compacted thoroughly using the needle vibrators.
- After that, a double beam screed vibrator is used for leveling and compaction of the concrete, it helps in the proper leveling of concrete.
- Next is the dewatering process, for which a bottom mat, filter mat, and top mat are placed on the concrete surface, and connected to a vacuum pump.
- This vacuum pump creates a vacuum between the top mat and filter mat, and the water is sucked from the surface of the concrete.
- The dewatering process reduces the water content in concrete by almost 20%, which means that the slab gets compressed by about 2%.
- This dewatering process is carried on for about 20 to 30 minutes depending upon the thickness of the slab.
- After that dewatered concrete is compacted and dried with the help of a rotating disc or the troweling blades.
- The grooves can be made on the newly created floor to avoid cracks from expansions and contractions.
- The final step in the VDF flooring is the curing of the newly created VDF floor for at least 15 to 20 days.
Advantages Of VDF Flooring
The VDF flooring has many advantages over normal cement flooring and this is the reason it has become more popular. Let’s have a look at some of the main advantages of VDF Flooring.
Higher Comprehensive Strength
The vacuum dewatered flooring has a higher comprehensive strength because of the reinforcement of steel bars and the vacuum dewatering process of the concrete.
Less Cement Consumption
The consumption of cement is reduced by more than 40% as no cement is required separately for finishing or final touch up of the flooring.
Better Surface Hardness
The vacuum dewatering process also helps to increase the hardness of the flooring slab by more than a hundred percent which makes the floor more strong and hard.
More Tensile Strength
The vacuum dewatering process helps the floor to have more tensile strength which helps it to bear more load without any kind of wear and tear.
Better Durability
The video flooring has a better wear resistance even against heavy traffic, as such, this flooring is very durable. It also requires very little maintenance.
Less Cracking Probability
VDF flooring process lowers the water-cement ratio, accordingly the tendency of shrinkage and subsequent cracking is greatly reduced in the floor.
Less Permeability
The vacuum dewatering process makes the floor slab very dense, accordingly, the water permeability is much less in these types of floors, which is good for the floor.
Disadvantages Of VDF Flooring
Higher Initial Cost
The initial cost of VDF flooring is higher because of the use of heavy pieces of machinery like a vacuum pump, trowelling blades, screed vibrators, etc.
Skill Labor Requirement
The VDF flooring is a technical process it has to be completed by skilled labor under proper supervision otherwise the floor can turn out to be improper.
Not For Small Areas
The VDF flooring is not suitable for smaller areas as it would lead to a very high cost, this is the reason it is mainly used in areas with a large floor area.
