HOLE FORM USE & CARE GUIDE
INTRODUCTION
Throughout our customer base, we see the lifespan of hole forms ranging from 6 months to 6 years. Use and care has a significant bearing on the product's useful life. The following guidelines are submitted to you in an effort to make certain all users are realizing the product's maximum lifespan.

The following outline is intended to enlighten you to the benefits and advantages of using hole forms.

The single largest benefit of forming holes is solid waste reduction and, of course, labor. Under the auspices of the EP A/RECRA division, there have been specific guidelines established for the long-term reduction of solid waste. Spent cores and Styrofoam waste will become an issue you must address soon.

As an example, let's say your operation last year produced 500 inlet boxes with two 24" holes. If you used foam to produce the holes and you were able to produce 5 holes before discarding the foam, you generated close to 15 cubic yards of waste at an average disposal cost of $10 per cubic yard, your disposal cost would have been $150. The disposal cost alone would have paid for 1.5 hole forms. Had you cored those same holes, you would have produced 58 cubic yards of waste.

COMBINING HOLE FORMING WITH STRUCTURES INTENDED FOR CORING
If you are already coring, you may want to consider forming a guide hole at your most frequently seen elevation and diameter. This simple technique can reduce the core time and disposal of one spent core per manhole.

USING MODERN HOLE FORMING TECHNIQUES TO SELL QUALITY IN YOUR FINISHED PRODUCT
People buy and perceive quality with their eyes; Inspectors also perceive quality with their eyes. You could have the highest quality product structurally, but if that manhole has ratty looking holes formed with foam or the concrete has been gouged out to expose the mesh, purchasers or inspectors may perceive it as being of lesser quality than your competitor.

USE AND CARE OF HOLE FORMS TO PROLONG SERVICE LIFE
General Handling Tips and Maintenance
Good management practices go along with increasing the service life of any hole form. Hole forming equipment is expensive and the pour floor personnel should be trained in use and care. Hole forms under 18" tend to be thrown around. A fiberglass hole form will chip and scrape. A steel hole form can possibly dent or bend. In both cases, you are reducing the service life and increasing the likelihood of producing a rejected structure. Provide the means to keep hole forms off the floor. Whether it is a cart or tables or an area where they are hung. Hole forms for producing holes for connector installations are close tolerance tools. No matter what the construction is, it will be out of tolerance after it has been run over by a forklift or a form or manhole has been dropped on it.

Keep fiberglass hole forms out of direct sunlight. Most of the resins used to manufacture them do not contain UV inhibitors. Fiberglass hole forms have UV protection if they are laid down with the gel coat facing the sun. This does not sound like much, but over time, the UV breakdown will significantly reduce the service life. Periodically as time permits, perform maintenance on your hole forms. Ten minutes now may save an hour later with a jackhammer. Occasionally scrape the accumulated buildup off the surface. Rub down with an abrasive pad and release. Deep gouges and scrapes can be repaired with repair putty.

RELEASE AGENTS
With the exception of collapsible type hole forms, hole forms must slide out of the hole. A continuous barrier film is the best to give it a head start. Most producers tend to use whatever release agent they are using on the form. However, liquid release agents tend to part, especially on a new hole form. For maximum service life a paste release agent that is wiped on will give you superior service life. Lubriplate is now marketing a grease/paste product for releasing concrete. The product is called Lubriplate #107**. We have also seen a number of producers using pipe lube. Our most commonly noted release failure occurs with the use of recycled oil products. Also, many producers are now using vegetable shortening as a release agent. It is environmentally friendly, easily accessible and inexpensive. It can be purchased in 5 gallon buckets at many grocery warehouses. It has no detrimental affect on the hole form and it makes an excellent release agent for all fiberglass forms.
** Lubriplate
201-589-9150
Fax: 201-589-4432

EXTRACTION
Especially with fiberglass hole forms, failure occurs after the face blows out from impact. Again, this is where good management practice and training pays off. Walk around your pour floor and take away those 16-ounce hammers. They are not good for your forms or hole forms. Whether they are contacting steel or fiberglass, the small area of impact has damaging results. A sledge hammer actually causes less damage only because of the larger impact area. The best tool for extracting fiberglass hole forms is a rubber mallet. Go to your local hardware superstore and buy about two- dozen of the cheap import variety. At about $3 to $4 each, all you need to do is save one hole form and they have paid for themselves.

If you are using knockouts to form a partial hole that are not pulled with the jacket, a small hole can be bored into the face of the fiberglass hole form for air extraction. On low-draft hole form, if you extract the hole form when the concrete is still hot, cold water sprayed from a hose into the fiberglass hole form will ease extraction.
To extract a hole form with a rubber mallet, gently tap and break off any flashing at the exit diameter. Strike the outer most circumference of the face of the hole until it releases.

Remember - Prevent Hard Pulls
Use a paste type release agent
Eliminate hole forms being thrown around and take away 16-ounce hammers
If the back edge of the hole forms are maintained, you will have less seepage and consequently they will release easier
Occasionally scrape the accumulated buildup off the surface. Rub down with an abrasive pad and re-release.

QUALITY CONTROL IN LOW TAPER HOLE FORMING FOR ULTIMATE INSTALLATION OF RUBBER MANHOLE CONNECTORS
Most important to the quality control of your hole forms is to know your supplier. Make sure they are supplying you a product that will work with your connector before you form the holes.
A periodic maintenance schedule should be established for the measurement of your hole forms. You will also need the necessary inspection equipment. Go-no go gauges work great for this and anyone can use them. Your connector supplier would be an excellent resource for assistance in establishing a Quality Control Plan. They would also be the source for tolerances on the connector type you are installing.

FORM HOLES
Many of our customers who are using attachment mechanisms complain about the holes left in the wall of the form. This is easily remedied with the use of a plastic cap plug. They are available in many diameters and are installed prior to pour. They usually pop out when you strip the structure. They are priced at approximately $65 for 1,000 and are available from Protective Closures Co., Carplugs Division**.

* * Protective Closures Co., Carplugs Division
2150 Elmwood Ave.
Buffalo, NY 14207
716-876-9855
Revised: 1/2002     Rev. Level A     Doc. No. 02


TECHNICAL INFORMATION

 

National Precast Concrete Association

1900 Ray Davis Boulevard - Seminole, OK - (405)382-7700 - Fax (405)382-7770

Toll Free: (800)876-2474 - email: Sales at Formcrete