Thermal Insulation Contracting LLC, with over 10 years of acumen in thermal insulation and allied industry is now foraying into Gunite/Sprayed concrete field of business. This is a culmination of technical expertise and UAE market experience of over 20 years.
Thermal will be commencing operations of both dry gunite and wet gunite for swimming pools, secant piles, retaining walls, diaphragm walls, storage reservoirs among other besides Protective coatings to refractory linings, rock stabilization. Strengthening and repair works by guniting to concrete structures will also be done.
Both Gunite and Shortcrete are referred to, as pneumatically applied concrete – SHORTCRETE.
However the Pool and SPA industry continue to refer gunite as Drymix and Shortcrete as Wet Mix.
In Simple terms gunite, shortcrete or sprayed concrete is concrete or MORTAR conveyed through a hose and pneumatically projected at high velocity on to a surface as a construction technique.
SHORTCRETE is usually an all inclusive term for both the Wet Mix and Dry Mix versions.
By and Large SHORTCRETE refers to Wet Mix and gunite to DRYMIX. In this context these terms are not Interchangeable.
The Dry Process
Here the concrete which is a ratio of cement and aggregate is batched and mixed without added water. The mixture is fed into a purpose-designed machine, pressurized and introduced into a high velocity air stream and conveyed through flexible hoses to the spraying nozzle. At this Nozzle, a finely atomized to spray of clean water is added to the stream of material to hydrate the cement and provide the right mix consistency so that uninterrupted stream of materials can be projected at high velocity into place.
The Wet Process
The sprayed concrete consists of a mixture of cement and aggregate, weight or volume batched and mixed with water prior to being pumped through a hose or pipe to a discharge Nozzle. High-velocity air is used to propel the mix into position and this supply of high-pressure air is introduced at the nozzle and the resultant velocity propels the concrete into a position where it is compacted by its own momentum.
