In this article, discover how to treat the alkus solid plastic formwork panel with concrete release agents in order to achieve excellent concreting results.

 

Pre-treating the face of the formwork immediately prior to casting

To achieve the best possible result, pre-treat the face of the formwork with formwork oil immediately prior to casting. To do so, spray a very small amount of solvent-based concrete release agent onto the formwork panel. If you apply too much concrete release agent, you risk causing a build-up of sticky residue. To prevent this, make sure the concrete release agent is applied as thinly as possible, as only then can the solvent evaporate immediately after spraying, leaving a fine film on the formwork panel. Therefore, when applying the concrete release agent, we recommend use of a special stainless-steel nozzle which produces a consistently fine spray mist. If the panel is pre-treated in this fashion, roughly one litre of concrete release agent is sufficient for treating 80 square metres of formwork panel. Important: When storing the concrete release agent, make sure galvanised containers are not used!

 

Using concrete release agents after treating wall and slab formwork elements with liquid formwork wax

We recommend the use of liquid formwork wax on all formwork systems used together with an alkus^® formwork panel. Apply the formwork wax with a brush, sponge or paintbrush or spray it onto all the formwork components that do not come into contact with the concrete. Several stacked wall or slab formwork elements can be fully sprayed and thus processed in an efficient and effective manner. Seeing as wax residue on the concrete may have an adverse effect on the finish, the formwork must be treated with concrete release agent after being coated with formwork wax. This procedure allows you to achieve excellent concreting results with an alkus solid plastic formwork panel.