Advantages and Disadvantages of Timber and Steel Formwork

Advantages of timber formwork

• Easy handling because it’s light weight.
• Easy to disassemble.
• Damaged parts can be replaced with new one.
• Very flexible.

Disadvantages of timber formwork

• Can’t be used for long. Have limited re-use. Can only be re-used 5 or 6 times.
• If the timber is dry, it will absorb moisture from wet concrete which could weaken the resultant concrete member.
• Timber with high moisture content (more than 20 % moisture content), wet concrete will shrink & cup leading to open joints & leakage of grout.

Advantages of steel formwork

• Very strong and able to carry heavy load.
• Easy to be fixed.
• Uniform size and surface.
• Can be used for a very long time.

Disadvantages of steel formwork

• Limited size or shape.
• Excessive loss of heat.
• A very smooth surface will be produced which would give problems for finishing process.