Foundation beams realized quickly and without waste with Superbox

Building foundation beams used to require a lot of shuttering work, but nowadays it can be done easily with foundation boxes made of EPS. De Hoop Pekso devised special tension pins to close the 'Superbox' with. This is not only extremely fast, it also prevents a lot of unnecessary waste. 

Assembling the Superbox is a matter of putting a row of U-shaped foundation boxes together and pinning them into the ground. Thanks to knife-edge joints on the ends, the formwork elements made of expanded polystyrene (EPS) slide together neatly, without the need for additional fasteners. "Unlike a standard insulation box, you also don't need to reinforce the formwork with steel brackets and wooden beams when pouring the concrete," says Remy van Holst of Bouwbedrijf Jongerius. "You can easily hold both sides of the formwork together with the plastic tie pins. Those are very simple to apply and give enough stability when the concrete goes in." Contractor Jongerius will soon start working with the Superbox again in Hekelingen. The construction company from Kwintsheul is building a large villa there on a new park, including a swimming pool. When doing foundation work for such jobs, the company always worked with standard insulation boxes or so-called "Top Boxes", until it was one of the first to try out the new system. That experience was so good that the contractor has been working with the Super Box ever since. It costs more than standard EPS formwork, but the construction company is happy to pay for it. In times of labor shortages and high material prices, it is important to complete each step of the construction process as quickly as possible using as few materials as possible. And that works with the new Superbox. Van Holst estimates that for one villa when using a standard EPS crate, his workers spend a day shuttering and then another half a day stripping. "If we use the Superbox, we save that half day of stripping anyway. In addition, you no longer have to reinforce things with steel braces and wooden beams - which you also have to remove later. In short, we definitely save a day of time," he calculates. "Compared to traditional shuttering, where you first lay the reinforcement on the sand and then build the wooden box around it, the time savings are obviously even greater." The braces and beams that the company used previously are difficult to reuse, while their prices have risen sharply. Using materials once and then tipping them into a dumpster is also not very sustainable. "Now we process everything that is delivered in the crate. Virtually nothing disappears into the dumpster anymore." 

Health and Safety Friendly 

De Hoop Pekso, inventor of the superfast formwork system, is also aiming at working in an arbor-friendly way with its brace- and crownless foundation formwork. This is because the system is designed so that it is always possible to work at height when applying the reinforcement. This prevents back pain for the braiders. Minimizing the use of materials greatly reduces the number of actions when setting the foundation. Applying tension pins is child's play. Special notches have been made in the box beforehand in which the tie pins are easily secured. At the ends of the plastic strips are caps that hook behind the EPS. After placing the basket reinforcement and pouring the concrete, it is not necessary to remove all kinds of reinforcements. The tie pins can simply remain in place. This saves a lot of time. Five to eight tie pins go into one box to hold things together. Furthermore, so-called "superbinders" are placed at the corners for reinforcement. Special tie rods provide additional stability at the pipe penetrations. The tie rods are recessed into the box and, after curing, become fixed under the concrete surface. The concrete workers can thus begin smoothing the concrete immediately after pouring. This produces tight results. 

Waffle pattern 

De Hoop Pekso has also thought about the shape of the box bottom. The special waffle pattern in which it is executed gives the brand-new foundation beam more stability on the sand bed. Furthermore, dovetail joints ensure better concrete adhesion. After the concrete hardens, the first floor can be built on the foundation beams a week later. The Superbox is available in fifteen width and height sizes and with an impressive length of 1800 millimeters, the foundation stands super fast. Construction company Jongerius uses the Superbox mainly in the construction of homes, but the system is also suitable for light utility construction. Various commercial and office buildings have already been built with it. 

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