To coordinate and prefabricate hangers or to not coordinate and prefabricate hangers? That is the question. If you are a GTP customer and STRATUS user, I think you know on which side of this question I fall. That being said, let me explain to you why you should coordinate and prefabricate hangers on your next project:
Less Waste = Cost Savings On Materials
Hangers cut to exact (coordinated)length within your fabrication shop help you eliminate ending up with excess material waste because you are able to take advantage of the linear nesting routines built into STRATUS and the STRATUS Workstation application.
Labeling Of Material And Production Tracking
When you cut hanger materials (Threaded rod, Unistrut, etc) through STRATUS every part receives a label with a QR code. That label can include all kinds of information to help support the fabrication and installation of that hanger. Below you will find an example of a Hanger Prefabrication Hanger Report and the resulting labels when cutting the materials with STRATUS.
As you can see, you can put all kinds of information on your labels to support your fabrication and field installation: areas (Zone 1), grid measurements (11’-6” to Grid E and 3’-0” to Grid 4), centerline or BOP elevations, and much more!
Safety In The Shop
Performing the cutting and assembly of hanger materials in your shop reduces your exposure to injury. It is much safer to perform these tasks in a clean and conditioned space with specialized tools.
Hanger Installation Efficiency
By prefabricating your hangers, you can ship them in batch sizes that suit your project and sequencing needs. Those batches can be sorted in your fabrication shop and shipped so the first hanger the field needs to install is the first one available from the shipping container.
Using deck inserts eliminates the need to come back and drill the deck post-pour to install your hangers. If you are not drilling overhead, you are not at risk of hitting a post tension cable or getting debris in your eye.
Hanger layouts that are coordinated prior to pouring the structural slab also help to increase the speed of installation of your MEP systems. Hangers that are preinstalled at the correct location and elevation allow for speedy installation of the electrical, plumbing, ductwork, and other systems they support.
Don’t leave your project team hanging by not prefabricating your hangers! Reach out to your GTP CSG representative for more information on setting up your hanger workflows!