Sustainability Login

Airfloor Slab®

The lightest slab on the market. It ensures thermal insulation, it is fast to be placed and meets every project requirement.

With max. 45 kg/m2, Airfloor® is self-supporting up to 6 meters. The EPS (airpop) layer offers thermal insulation and works as casting formwork.

The placement is easy: panels fit together thanks to the structural protrusion of the slab. Casting can start immediately without need for additional nets. The basis Is smooth, without downstanding and equipped to accommodate false ceiling.

Now, Airfloor® Fire completes the Airfloor portfolio, the first EPS REI NATIVE ceiling. Designed to offer greater safety and fire resistance. The Airfloor® Fire floor slab is fire-resistant for up to 120 minutes and has significantly higher self-supporting capacity compared to other comparable floor slabs.

Airfloor® has been patented by Tecnostrutture s.r.l. 

 

Benefits

  • Reduced load on foundations
  • Suitable for highly seismic areas
  • Self-supporting up to 6 meters
  • Adaptable to layout geometries
  • Thermal insulation
  • Quick and easy to install
  • Low environmental impact
  • Suspension arrangements for false ceiling
  • Airfloor® Fire native fire resistance up to 120 minutes

Areas of use

  • Residential
  • Tertiary
  • Renovations
  • Elevations
  • Multi-storey buildings

Application-Technique Recommendations

The NPS®AIR solution employs Airfloor™ slab.
Due to its light weight, Airfloor™ is ideal for construction sites with limited handling equipment and narrow spaces. In addition, after completion casting, it guarantees the seismic requirements of a rigid floor according to current technical standards. 

Ing. Alessio Argentoni, NPS® Research and Development

Reduces construction time by 40%

  • The Airfloor® slab can be safely walked on immediately and is already arranged for the attachment of the earthquake-proof ceiling.
  • It is no longer necessary to wait 28 days for the additional concrete casting to cure. The deck underneath the Airfloor® floor is immediately free and available for further work. Thanks to the dry weight of only 45 kg/m2, two workers can lift and lay the Airfloor® by hand.
  • Self-supporting up to 5 metres, Airfloor® allows the laying and supplementary pouring of concrete without the use of props. A real saving of material and time.
  • The construction speed achieved with Airfloor® is further increased when combined with NPS® beams and columns.

Suitable for highly seismic areas

  • Airfloor® is a floor suitable for interventions even in highly seismic areas.
  • Its light weight of 190 kg/m2 after casting results in a reduced load on the structure. More seismic safety and cost savings for foundations.
  • The use of the Airfloor® slab, especially if combined with NPS® beams and pillars, makes it possible to benefit from the Italian tax deductions Superbonus and Sismabonus for works of seismic improvement on existing buildings and demolitions and reconstructions with seismic adaptation.

Architectural freedom

  • The Airfloor® slab adapts to all possible project geometries.
  • It can be customized in its dimensions as needed and is available in submultiples.
  • Airfloor® is the ideal solution for residential, commercial, renovation and high-rise buildings.

Guaranteed thermal and acoustic insulation

  • The Airfloor® slab, combined with the most common finishing packages on the extrados and plasterboard on the intrados, complies with current acoustic insulation standards, in accordance with DPCM 5.12.97.
  • The Airfloor® slab complies to current thermal standards.
  • The airpop polystyrene layer favours thermal insulation, thanks to its closed-cell structure, formed by 98% air, it can ensure an equivalent thermal conductivity λ lower than 0.062 W/(mk).

Laying up to 1000m2/day

  • It only takes two workers and a crane operator to install an Airfloor® panel. A team of three lays 1000 m2 of slab per day.
  • Airfloor® panels can be stacked and lifted 5 at a time. Crane pulls drop dramatically by about 80%.
  • The floor slab is laid with precast mortar, the distribution reinforcement is positioned and then the completion pour is carried out immediately. There is no risk of leaking since the panels adhere to each other thanks to the shaped profile.

Include Airfloor® in your project

Download typical Airfloor® sections in . dxf format to start using them in your projects.

DOWNLOAD .DXF SECTIONS

Design in BIM with Airfloor® for Tekla and Revit

Airfloor® parametric floor objects for Revit and Tekla are a tool to speed design and make the engineer's job easier.

DOWNLOAD OBJECTS FOR REVIT AND TEKLA

Certified environmental impact content

For each specific project, the environmental impact of the NPS® solution can be calculated in terms of CO2 equivalent and numerous other indicators, based on the official Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). This allows the planner and investor to compare the environmental impact of alternative structural solutions and make an objective choice.

DOWNLOAD THE AIRFLOOR™ EPD

The importance of Embodied Carbon

Until now, the focus has been on reducing the emissions produced during the use of the building.

However, it is estimated that more than half of the total carbon emissions from all the new global constructions between 2020 and 2050 will be due to embodied carbon and therefore emissions related to materials and building construction/renovation (source BuildingLife Roadmap).

It is therefore necessary to focus not only on the operational emissions of buildings and to start considering both operational and embodied carbon in an integrated way.

NPS® beams represent at the same time an economical, fast and sustainable structural solution.


Contributes to obtaining LEED and DGNB credits

The use of the Airfloor® slab, even more so when combined with that of NPS® beams and columns can contribute to obtaining credits for the sustainability certification of the building.

Tecnostrutture commissioned an external company to carry out an analysis on the contribution of NPS® products to obtain credits for building sustainability certifications.

This mapping is available for LEED and DGNB certification.

DOWNLOAD LEED MAPPING
DOWNLOAD DGNB MAPPING

Benefits of airpop material

  • Airfloor® is a self-supporting floor with an airpop base that acts as a disposable formwork. Airpop is the new international name for the material known until now as EPS. Made up of 98% air, airpop is lightweight, yet resistant to 250 KPa of compression.
  • Insulation > is an effective thermal insulator. Thanks to its closed-cell structure made up of 98% air, it can ensure a thermal conductivity λ of less than 0.038 W/(mk).
  • Hygienic > it is an inert material so it cannot be attacked by fungi, bacteria or other microorganisms and therefore does not rot or go mouldy.
  • Recyclable > 100%.
  • Non-toxic > does not release harmful substances and is odourless.
  • Durable > Scientific and practical insights prove its quality. Airpop does not sublimate over time. Source aipe.biz
  • Water repellent > water absorption by total immersion in the long term is less than 4% (UNI EN 12087) and it has a high resistance to vapour diffusion.

Storage

Airfloor™ panels can be stacked and then lifted 5 at a time.

For technical storage requirements, please refer to the Tecnostrutture’s product assembly and installation booklet.


Handling

Airfloor™ floor panels can be lifted and handled with standard lifting equipment, such as cranes or crane trucks.

Airfloor™ panels can be stacked and lifted 5 at a time. Crane pulls drop dramatically by about 80%.

For technical prescriptions, please refer to Tecnostrutture’s product assembly and installation booklet.


Installation

The slab is laid with the pre-cast mortar. The AIrfloor™ slab can be safely walked on immediately, even before casting.

The distribution reinforcement is placed and then the completion casting is carried out immediately.

There is no risk of leaking as the panels adhere to each other thanks to the shaped profile.

WATCH THE VIDEO

Application of pendants for plasterboard finishing

The application of the plasterboard ceiling is very easy and starts immediately after the installation of the panels.

After positioning all the panels, it is possible to insert the hangers every 60 cm following the references indicated in the EPS, making sure to anchor them to the ceiling reinforcement. By arranging the hangers according to a 60 cm x 60 cm scheme, it is possible to fix them even if the orientation of the false ceiling structure is not known.

At this point the pendants are inserted at the intersection of the boards. After casting the slab, proceed as any other ceiling system, screwing the clips and hooking the metal guides on which the plasterboard sheets will be fixed.

WATCH THE VIDEO

Finishing with skimming or plasterboard

The Airfloor™ slab can be completed with plasterboard application or smoothing. Watch the two tutorials.

DRYWALL TUTORIAL
SHAVING TUTORIAL

Installation Video

Require information