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Innovations in Tilt-up Construction Help Contractors Overcome Challenges

The key to successful commercial construction is balancing quality with cost and schedule. While this is always a challenge, external forces like local building codes often make the balance even more difficult to achieve.

The construction team decided the Northern Tool & Equipment store would be a tilt-up concrete building very early in the design process because tilt-up provided substantial cost savings and made the proposed building schedule much more feasible. When the decision was made, however, another issue arose. Local building codes required new commercial buildings to have 100% masonry facades. The solution was a product called Brick Snap. This product allowed construction crews to attach a brick wall facade to the tilt-up construction panels as the panels were cast rather than constructing a facade in a separate step after the walls were cast and stood.

Such was the case with Northern Tool & Equipment Company's retail store in Lewisville, Texas.

The construction team, headed up by general contractor Bob Moore Construction in Arlington, Texas, decided this would be a tilt-up concrete building very early in the design process. Tilt-up provided substantial cost savings and made the proposed building schedule much more feasible than traditional a CMA concrete building would allow for. Steel buildings were competitive in cost and schedule to tilt-up, but local zoning did not allow for metal structures in this location and the client wanted the superior quality of a concrete building. Tilt-up was clearly the construction method of choice.

When the decision was made, however, another issue arose. Local building codes required new commercial buildings to have 100% masonry façades. "We built a Northern Tool and Equipment retail store the year before in Grand Prairie," said Curt Hellen, Senior Project Manager for Bob Moore Construction, "and we finished that with paint. We couldn't do this in Lewisville, however, because local codes required a masonry finish to the building."

In previous years the alternative would have been to build a masonry façade along the walls' exteriors. This would have driven up construction costs and added crucial days to the schedule, all but erasing the benefits of tilt-up construction.

"We had to come up with a more innovative solution," said Hellen.

To use the Brick Snap system, workers placed individual masonry tiles connected by plastic trays into the tilt-up construction panel forms. The tiles, coated in wax to ensure their faces didn't stick to the concrete, form the walls' bricks while the trays define the mortar pattern between the bricks. Once the work crews set up the tiles and trays, they poured the tilt-up panels and allowed them to cure, then stood and secured the panels to form the walls. Workers then washed the walls' exteriors with warm water to remove the trays and wax and leave the masonry tiles in the finished brick pattern.

The solution was found in a product from Scott System called Brick Snap. This product allowed construction crews to attach a brick wall façade to the tilt-up construction panels as the panels were cast rather than constructing a façade in a separate step after the walls were cast and stood.

To use the Brick Snap system, workers placed individual masonry tiles connected by plastic trays into the tilt-up construction panel forms. The tiles, coated in wax to ensure their faces didn't stick to the concrete, form the walls' bricks while the trays define the mortar pattern between the bricks.

Once the work crews set up the tiles and trays, they poured the tilt-up panels and allowed them to cure, then stood and secured the panels to form the walls. Workers then washed the walls' exteriors with warm water to remove the trays and wax and leave the masonry tiles in the finished brick pattern.

The Brick Snap system worked - the project satisfied the city's requirements while maintaining the cost and speed advantages that tilt-up construction provides. "Our team took a very innovative approach to solving the various challenges we faced in the design and planning phases," said Hellen. "The steps we took were very effective, and were successful at holding down the overall cost of the project."

The Brick Snap system is another example of how the construction industry is driving innovations to manage costs and schedule without undercutting quality - the key benefits of tilt-up concrete construction. As these creative solutions are improved and implemented, tilt-up construction will continue to evolve into the construction methodology of choice for an ever-growing circle of commercial building applications.

This photo shows the Brick Snap system. The individual masonry tiles connected by plastic trays form the brick wall pattern in the tilt-up construction panel forms. Once the work crews set up the tiles and trays, they poured the tilt-up panels and allowed them to cure, then stood and secured the panels to form the walls. Workers then washed the walls' exteriors with warm water to remove the trays and wax and leave the masonry tiles in the finished brick pattern.

The finished product - the store's walls have a 100% masonry facade in a two-toned brick pattern that looks aesthetically pleasing and conforms to local building codes. Innovations like Brick Snap make tilt-up concrete construction the method of choice for more and more commercial construction building projects.