Structural Shotcrete
Basement and foundation walls sprayed against one-sided forms
Underground parkade walls and concrete repairs
Built to the structural drawings on your project
Drawings, or just depth, wall length and a few photos of the lot.
Quality steps
- Piano wire for line and grade
- Reinforcement and cover checked at the hold point before shooting
- Test panel when the specification calls for it
- Rebound removed, none left in the section
- Cure per the project specification
- Cores and strength testing scheduled with your inspector
Drawings, or just depth, wall length and a few photos of the lot.
Structural shotcrete: standards and design
- The shotcrete guide. ACI PRC-506-22, Shotcrete—Guide (ACI Committee 506), covers materials, equipment, application procedures and crew responsibilities for both wet-mix and dry-mix shotcrete.
- Canadian concrete standards. CSA A23.1 covers concrete materials and construction methods, and CSA A23.2 covers the test methods. The 2024 edition includes extensive updates for shotcrete. Your project specification names the edition that applies.
- Alberta building code. Buildings in Alberta are designed under the National Building Code – 2023 Alberta Edition, in force since May 1, 2024.
- Why shotcrete instead of form-and-pour. Shotcrete needs only a one-sided form. An article in ASA's Shotcrete magazine says this can cut overall formwork materials by up to 75% (King, 2017). On tight infill lots, walls can also be shot one-sided against the excavation shoring ("blindside" construction).
- Who decides. Your structural engineer of record decides whether shotcrete is the right placement method and sets the design. The authority having jurisdiction issues the permit and inspects. Enviro Shield places the shotcrete to the approved drawings and specifications.
Sources: ACI PRC-506-22 · ACI announcement · CSA A23.1:24/A23.2:24 · NBC 2023 Alberta Edition (NRC) · Alberta building codes in force · King, "Form-and-Pour to Shotcrete," Shotcrete, Spring 2017, pp. 52–55 (PDF) · King, "Shotcrete—The Blindside Waterproofing Solution," Shotcrete, Summer 2017 (PDF)