How to store precast on site without paying for it twice
How to store precast on site in the UAE: ground bearing, dunnage placement, stack heights by product, and keeping units off sabkha and clear of traffic so damage never gets charged to you.
A contractor called us last month wanting a price on four replacement jersey barriers. Not because ours had failed. Because his crew had offloaded thirty of them onto a soft, unlevelled patch behind the site cabin, stacked a few two-high to save space, and come back after the weekend to find two cracked and one tipped into the fence. The concrete was perfect when it left our yard. The damage was pure storage.
That’s the pattern we see over and over. Most of the precast we get asked to replace wasn’t hurt in casting and wasn’t hurt on the truck. It was hurt in the laydown area, in the gap between delivery and installation that nobody actually plans. And that damage lands on the contractor’s cost sheet, not ours.
So here’s how to store precast on site properly, so you install what you paid for and never re-order a unit you already own.
Why does most precast damage happen after delivery, not before?
Because storage is the one step with no drawing, no method statement, and no owner. Casting has a QA sheet. Delivery has a driver and a slinger. Installation has a sequence. Storage usually has a forklift, a bit of spare ground, and whoever’s free.
The units are heavy and unforgiving. A jersey barrier runs 1,600 to 2,400 kg, a precast manhole around 2,500 kg, a T-wall as much as 6,500 kg. Drop one of those a few centimetres onto a stone, land it on ground that settles under the corner, or knock it with a reversing truck, and you get a spalled edge or a crack that fails inspection. BS EN 13369, the common-rules standard for precast concrete, treats handling and storage as part of delivering the product to spec, not an afterthought, precisely because a sound unit is easy to ruin between the truck and the trench.
What surface should precast sit on?
Firm, level, well-drained ground, with every unit lifted off it on timber bearers. The single worst thing you can do is lay a heavy precast unit straight onto the soil, and in much of the UAE that soil is sabkha: salt-rich coastal flat that looks solid, holds water, and settles unevenly the moment you load it.
Rest a 2,400 kg barrier directly on sabkha or loose backfill and one corner sinks. Now the unit is racked, the face is in contact with damp saline ground, and the sling can’t get under it for the next lift without dragging. Put it on dunnage, two sound timber bearers of 100mm or larger, and the load spreads onto two clean lines, the unit stays level, the concrete face and the cast-in lifting anchors stay clear of the dirt, and the slinger has room to hook on.
Line the bearers up with the unit’s support and lifting points from its drawing, not just wherever they land. A bearer under the wrong part of a long unit turns storage into an unplanned load test.
How high can you stack precast on site?
For most heavy or shaped units, one tier only. Jersey barriers, manholes, box culverts, and T-walls are stored on the ground in a single row, not stacked. The rule of thumb we work to: the heavier and the more awkwardly shaped a unit, the lower it stores.
Barriers are the classic trap. They look stackable and they aren’t. The jersey and K-rail profile is wide at the base and narrow at the top, so a barrier sat on another barrier has a small, unstable bearing area and a high centre of gravity. That’s how you tip one into a fence. Stand them upright, end to end, in a single row on level bearers. Flat, regular units, paving slabs, access covers, small equipment slabs, are the ones you can stack, on bearers aligned dead vertical through the pile so the load runs straight down and nothing bridges.
| Unit | Typical weight | How we store it | Stack? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jersey / K-rail barrier | 1,600–2,400 kg | Upright, single row on bearers | No |
| Precast manhole | ~2,500 kg | Single tier, upright, on bearers | No |
| Box culvert | ~3,500 kg | Single tier on bearers | No |
| T-wall | ~6,500 kg | Single row, base down | No |
| Paving / equipment slabs | 20–95 kg | Bearers aligned vertically | Yes, modest height |
If you’re ever unsure, ask us for the unit before it ships. We’ll tell you how that specific item stores, because we know its weight, shape, and where the support points are.
How do you keep stored units clear of traffic and weather?
Keep the laydown area off every haul route and site road, and give heavy units a wide margin from any edge, slope, or excavation. The commonest storage write-off after “sunk in soft ground” is “clipped by a reversing truck.” A barrier standing in a route that a loader uses twice a day is a barrier waiting to be hit.
Pick a spot vehicles don’t need to pass through, mark it, and keep a clear working gap around each row so the crane or Hiab can lift the unit out later without threading it past its neighbours. Weather is the smaller worry, cured precast handles UAE heat and the odd rain shower fine, but don’t let units stand in a puddle. Ground that pools water is ground that softens and settles, and that takes you straight back to the racked-corner problem. Drainage first, shade a distant second.
Where our barriers and delivery fit
We cast jersey and K-rail barriers to the BS EN 1317 profile in 50 MPa concrete, 810mm high, in 1m, 2m, and 3m lengths, priced from roughly AED 150 to AED 850 a unit depending on length and finish. A barrier that lands on your site sound and gets stored right installs at that price. One that gets cracked in a bad laydown area costs you the unit again plus the crane time to swap it.
That’s why we don’t stop at the factory gate. When we deliver, our slinger will point out where units should go and how to bear them, and we can advise on offloading method too, whether the job wants a crane or manual handling and how many units a run actually needs if you’re sizing a diversion. Pair good storage with our delivery inspection checklist and you sign for sound units and install sound units, with nothing lost in between.
Frequently asked questions
How should precast concrete be stored on site? On firm, level, well-drained ground, each unit supported on timber bearers rather than resting on the soil. Keep the bearers in line with the support and lifting points on the drawing, store heavy units single-tier, keep everything clear of live traffic, and never lay units onto sabkha or loose fill that settles unevenly.
Can you stack jersey barriers on top of each other? We don’t recommend it. A jersey barrier weighs 1,600 to 2,400 kg and its shape is unstable stacked. Store barriers in a single upright row on level bearers, end to end. Flat units like slabs and covers can be stacked on aligned bearers; shaped and heavy units go single-tier.
Why does precast get damaged after delivery? Because storage is the step nobody planned. Units land on soft or uneven ground, get stacked wrong, sit in a traffic route, or lose their bearers. The concrete is fine when it leaves us; the chips, cracks, and tipped units happen in the laydown area, and that damage is charged to the contractor.
How long can precast sit on site before installation? Concrete gains strength with age, so time itself isn’t the problem, poor storage is. A unit stored correctly on bearers, clear of traffic and standing water, waits weeks with no issue. A unit on soft ground in a haul route can be damaged in a day.
What is dunnage in precast storage? Dunnage is the timber bearers, usually 100mm or larger sound timber, placed under a unit so it sits off the ground on two clean support lines. It spreads the load, keeps the unit level, protects the face and lifting anchors, and gives the slings clearance for the next lift.
Most precast we replace wasn't damaged in casting or on the truck. It got chipped, cracked, or tipped in a laydown yard nobody planned. Two timber bearers and a flat, dry patch of ground save you the re-order every time.
Planning a laydown area? Tell us what’s landing on it
Send us the units, quantities, and your delivery emirate, and we’ll tell you the ground you need, how each item stores, and how to keep the laydown area out of your traffic. Store it right and you install exactly what you ordered.
