Road Forms
Road forms are steel edge forms that hold concrete to line and level on slabs, roads, parking lots, driveways and curbs. HERMEQ supplies rigid road forms for straight runs, with or without rebar holes, flexible road forms for curves, custom forms built to contract specifications, and the road form stakes that lock each length in place. The range also covers the accessories that move formwork from one pour to the next: storage racks for handling and storing forms by forklift, stake extractors for stripping, and screed rail systems for setting level inside large floor slabs.
Rigid, flexible and custom steel road forms
The line the slab edge follows decides the form: rigid forms hold straight runs, flexible forms bend through curves, and custom forms are built when a contract specifies a profile the standard forms do not cover.
Rigid road forms for straight runs
Rigid road forms, also called road formers, are pressed steel edge forms that set slab perimeters, pour section joints and road edges to a true line. HERMEQ supplies rigid road forms with rebar holes and rigid road forms without holes, and the next section sets out which to choose.
Flexible road forms for curves and radiused edges
Flexible road forms bend to follow radius returns, curved driveway edges, winding sidewalks and the rounded ends of parking lot islands. Searches for flexible concrete forms often turn up plastic flex board and bender board, which are common on residential flatwork. The flexible forms in this range are steel, take the same stakes as the rigid forms and store on the same racks, so a crew on commercial pours runs curves and straights from one set of forms, stakes and storage.
Custom road forms built to contract specifications
Custom road forms are built to order, with the height, rigidity, bracing and edge finish set to the job. Choose them when the drawings call for a form profile outside the standard depths, or when heavy reuse over a long contract calls for a heavier build.
Road forms with or without rebar holes
The deciding question is whether reinforcing steel has to pass through the edge of the form. Rigid forms with pre-drilled holes are the choice for roads, streets and parking lots poured in sections, where dowels or rebar run through the form face to tie each pour section to the next. The holes set the bars at a consistent height along the joint, and the form slides off the bars when it is stripped, leaving them in place for the adjacent pour.
Plain rigid forms suit perimeter edges and stand-alone slabs that tie into nothing, such as equipment pads, driveway aprons, building foundations and the outer edge of a floor. They leave an unbroken face along the edge, with no holes to plug or to leak paste where no steel passes through.
Concrete paving forms for streets, driveways and floors
Roads, streets and parking lots
Pavement work runs long straight lines in pour sections, so it is formed mostly with rigid forms with rebar holes, set to the full pavement thickness and staked at every lock so the form carries the screed without moving. Flexible forms take over at entrances, islands and radius returns.
Driveways and sidewalks
Driveways and sidewalks are shallower pours with more curves, which makes flexible forms the main tool alongside plain rigid forms for the straight edges.
Commercial foundations and warehouse floors
Building slabs and warehouse floors are poured as large panels or long strips. Plain rigid forms set the foundation and floor perimeter, and holed forms set the strip joints where dowels carry load across.
Airport and large infrastructure contracts
Airport aprons, taxiways and infrastructure slabs are poured to specifications that set the form height, rigidity and edge, which is the work custom road forms are built for.
Road form depth, edge profile and quantities
Form depth and slab thickness
The top of the form sets the finished surface, so the form depth should match the slab thickness. The standard rigid forms run from 4 in to 12 in deep, with flexible forms in matching depths through most of that span, which covers most driveways, sidewalks, parking lots and floor slabs.
Square or rounded edge
The pressed top edge of a rigid form is either square or rounded. In this range the forms with rebar holes are square edged, the plain forms have a double-pressed rounded edge, and custom forms can be ordered with either. Choose the edge the specification or the finishing crew asks for, and keep one edge type within a run so the slab edge stays consistent.
Working out quantities for a run
Every form in the range is 10 ft long, so you can measure each run, divide by that length and round up, measuring curves along the arc and allowing flexible forms for each radius. Allow three stakes for each form, with spares for stakes bent in hard ground, and plan an extractor and storage racks into the order so the forms are pulled cleanly and come back straight for the next pour.
Stakes, extractors and racks for steel road forms
Road form stakes
Road form stakes are pointed mild steel pins driven through the locks on the back of each form into the subgrade and wedged tight. They hold the form to line and level through placing, vibration and screeding.
Stake extractor
The road form stake extractor is a lever tool that pulls stakes once the concrete has set. It lifts stakes out of compacted or rocky ground without bending them or knocking the forms out of shape, so both go back into service undamaged.
Road form storage racks
A road form storage rack holds forms flat and stacked, with forklift guides for loading trucks and moving stock around the yard. Forms kept in a rack stay straight between jobs, and empty racks collapse and stack to save yard space.
Screed rails and leveling hardware
Screed rails do a different job from road forms: the forms set the slab perimeter and the edges of each pour section, and screed rails set the level inside a large floor pour. The Combiform screed rail system allows a large floor to be poured continuously to a set level. Each rail stands on screed rail ground plates and is brought to height on adjusting screws. The screed rail adjusting tool turns the screws for fine leveling, and screed rail locking clips hold the rail rigid along its length. A screed rail top extender fitted to the rail adds concrete cover and forms a contraction joint in place of a saw cut. The K-Form uPVC screed rail is a plastic rail for the same work.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Road forms, road formers, paving forms and steel or metal road forms are names for the same product: steel edge forms that are staked to the ground and hold concrete to line and level as it is placed and finished. The rigid, flexible and custom forms in this range all fall under those names.
Yes. A curb is formed with two lines of form, one at the face and one at the back, set to the curb height and staked through the rear locks. Flexible forms carry the curb around radius returns, and custom forms are built where a contract specifies a particular curb profile.
Scrape concrete paste off the forms soon after stripping, before it hardens on the steel, and coat the form face with a form release agent before each pour so the concrete parts cleanly. Set aside any bent length before it goes back in the rack.
Yes. A flexible form is set through the curve and butted to rigid forms at each end where the line straightens, with stakes close to each joint to hold the two faces flush. Both are steel forms of the same length set to the same depth, so the top edge stays continuous for the screed.
Custom road forms can be ordered in galvanized or painted steel. The finish is set when the custom form is ordered, alongside its height, rigidity and edge.
A slab deeper than 12 in is formed with custom road forms built to the pour height. Their rigidity and bracing are specified to resist the greater concrete pressure of a deep pour, and they are staked with the same road form stakes as the standard range.