What is tafelbouw?
Tafelbouw (literally “table construction”) is a Dutch term for a building method in which the walls are made of stacked units (masonry or glued blocks, such as calcium silicate) and the floors are cast in concrete on site. It combines stacked construction (Dutch stapelbouw) with cast-in-place construction (gietbouw). The term is not widely used, but the name explains the principle: the concrete floor is the tabletop, the walls are the legs.
How it works
Each storey is built in two phases:
- Stack the walls: loadbearing walls are laid or glued from calcium silicate, concrete or clay blocks.
- Cast the floor: formwork is set on top (often table formwork that is moved up storey by storey) and the floor is poured in place.
Walls and floor are therefore made separately, unlike tunnel form construction, where walls and floor are cast monolithically in a single pour.
Application
- Terraced houses and smaller apartment buildings with loadbearing party walls in calcium silicate.
- Projects where tunnel formwork does not pay off, for example small series or irregular floor plans.
Points to watch
- Bearing: the floor needs sufficient bearing on the wall; follow the structural engineer’s specification.
- Sound insulation: for party walls, the mass of wall and floor and the junction detail determine the sound insulation. A decoupled detail prevents flanking transmission.
- Programme: stacking and pouring alternate, so the build time per storey can be longer than with tunnel form construction.
Related terms
- Load-bearing masonry construction
- Cast-in-situ construction
- Calcium silicate brick
- Formwork
- Screed
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