Plywood in Concrete Formwork

Plywood possesses properties that are excellent for concrete formwork. Plywood characteristics relevant to formwork design such as strength and stiffness to weight ratio, dimensional stability, ease of working and impact resistance are detailed in the PAA publication "Plywood in Concrete Formwork".

Formwork can be faced with an overlay to achieve desired architectural affects or to allow a large number of re-uses. Non overlaid or raw plywood can be used in applications where off form finish is not critical. Release agent is still required on raw plywood formwork. The life of the formwork plywood depends on care and maintenance at the site. The number of re-uses cannot be predicted accurately.

Concrete form plywood generally has thinner face veneers over thicker underlying cross veneers to give it similar strength and stiffness properties in both face directions.

All concrete form plywood should be edge sealed. All re-cut edges and holes should be re-sealed.

Reference: Plywood Association of Australia brochure "Plywood in Concrete Formwork"

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Timber Research Unit
Department of Architecture
University of Tasmania