Four benefits of refurbishing your building with precast components by ULMA
Today we're discussing a refurbishment project that saw us replace the infill components and the edges of the floor structure in a residential building located in Gandía.
The main reason for this refurbishment was the poor, extremely deteriorated condition of the old parts, which had led to a risk of detachment.
The solution was to design, manufacture and supply two types of architectural precast components: slab faces and jambs to cover the false ceiling.
Although several options were discussed initially, in the end the decision was made to fully cover the floor structure and the false ceiling with precast components by ULMA.
Why? We asked Roberto Moratal, the project's lead architect, and this is what he had to say:
“The choice of material was a technical decision agreed with the owners and, after studying different infill part solutions, we decided to use components by ULMA rather than other parts in natural stone, ceramic cladding or composite profiling, given their resistance to environmental conditions, their versatility in terms of shape and placement in the project, as well as their ability to provide appropriate aesthetics to a building that has always had pieces that are visually similar in colour and shape. The choice of ULMA was completely technical as we believe ULMA to be the manufacturer that offers us the best quality and guarantees.”
Let's analyse these reasons by breaking them down:
1. Resistance to environmental conditions
Our material, Stoneo, is a non-porous, practically impermeable material. This means that neither saltpetre nor humidity in coastal areas penetrate these components and this property makes them more resistant, allowing them to last longer and thus ensuring the building's refurbishment enjoys a long lifespan.
2. Versatility in shapes
Architectural precasts are made with moulds, meaning all kinds of shapes and sizes can be devised.
The material's high workability allowed us to offers solutions to various parts of the project: the curved areas and the false ceiling.
To do this, we designed customised curved slab faces. We did this using two special types of moulds: one for the concave part and another for the convex part.
They are unique pieces that are fully adapted to the dimensions and shapes of the building.
3. Placement on site
Precast components in our material, Stoneo, weigh less than other materials available on the market. As these are light parts with a smaller cross-section and lower weight, they are easier to handle on site and simple to install.
This leads to savings in terms of execution times and resources.
If you have a refurbishment project before you and you want to see for yourself if we're an expert, reliable, trustworthy supplier, we'll accept the challenge here.
4. Quality and guarantees
Malcolm Gladwell, in his book named “Outliers. The story of success”, says that around 10,000 hours of practice are required to become an expert in a subject. This equates to an average of 20 hours a week over the course of 10 years.
At ULMA, we have been refurbishing buildings for more than 25 years and we know you can't cut corners. The quality of our material supports us and the results achieved in all the projects we've developed are our best guarantee when presenting ourselves as a reliable, trustworthy company.
