Formliners · Surface tooling for precast

Formliners that survive the wash-off and the second pour.

Custom silicone and polyurethane formliners — wood grain, stone, brick, ribbed, ashlar, bespoke relief. Sized to your bed, spliced at the panel joint, released cleanly the fiftieth time as well as the first.

Get a quote What we make

CustomTextures

SplicedAt joint

PolyurethaneOr silicone

UKMade

When it fits

Where a formliner is the right answer.

Four situations where a custom formliner earns its cost quickly.

You want a specific finish

Wood grain from a particular timber, a stone texture matched to a nearby elevation, a brick or ashlar pattern that reads properly at distance. A stock formliner won't get you there. A custom one will.

Panel joints have to line up

If the texture continues from panel to panel, the formliner has to be spliced so the joint falls where the panel joint already is. That has to be designed in — it can't be improvised on the bed.

You need pours in the hundreds

One-off silicone lining works for a single feature panel. A run of a hundred or more panels needs polyurethane or a purpose-built silicone with the right release regime around it.

The bed is not a standard size

Whether it's oversized, an odd corner or a curved bed, the formliner is made to fit. A stock roll will always leave you cutting on the bed, and the seams will read.

Textured concrete panels with pattern aligned neatly across the joints — Texture carried cleanly from panel to panel

The choice

Silicone or polyurethane, and why it matters.

Formliners come in two flavours. Silicone captures fine detail beautifully and releases well without much release agent. Polyurethane is tougher, has a longer working life on straightforward relief, and takes more of a beating in the yard. For most standard textures on a normal precast programme, polyurethane is the workhorse. For fine architectural detail, or where undercuts are involved, silicone earns its keep.

The right answer is often both — a silicone insert for the detail area, sat inside a polyurethane surround. We'll tell you which combination fits your job, and why.

The splice matters as much as the texture. A badly-placed splice reads on the panel face forever. We design the splice positions on the drawing, before the mould is poured, and we tell you where they'll land so you can confirm they sit on the panel joint.

Silicone insert fitted inside polyurethane surround with planned splice

What we need

To quote this properly.

A photograph of the reference surface

Whether that's the timber, the stone, the neighbouring elevation, or a hand-drawn pattern. One photograph tells us more than a paragraph.

Your bed dimensions and layout

The bed size, the panel size, and where the panel joints fall. That's what determines splice positions.

Your mix design in outline

Plain OPC, GGBS blend, self-compacting, GRC. We don't need the exact proportions, but we need to know what the silicone or polyurethane is going to meet.

Rough pour count you'd like

Fifty panels, two hundred, a rolling programme? The right material grade depends on it.

The honest bit

What we won't tell you about formliners.

A formliner does not last forever. On a normal precast programme, well-treated silicone formliners reliably run into three figures of pours. Polyurethane on straightforward relief often further. Anyone quoting you five hundred pours as a guarantee is guessing.

How the formliner is handled matters as much as how it's made. A formliner that's stacked wet, released with an aggressive solvent, or hosed off with high-pressure water at close range will fail early. We'll write a short handling note into the delivery so your yard knows what the tool is expecting.

There's no advantage in over-specifying. A silicone grade rated for a chemistry you're not running is just money spent on a rating you don't need. We'll spec the grade that fits your mix, not the most expensive grade in the range.

Used formliners drying and stored carefully after casting — Correct drying and storage after repeated pours

Drill down

4 variants of this service.

Each one has its own page with the detail we'd normally cover on the first call.

Plastic formlinersRigid ABS and PVC liners for simple relief Elastomeric formlinersPolyurethane and silicone for repeat runs Single-use formlinersOne-off feature panels and short runs Reusable formlinersLong-life liners for running programmes

Where this fits in the wider system.

Precast concrete moulds Replacement formliners Custom texture and relief For precast yards

At a glance

The idea in a picture.

Where the formliner sits

Swipe to see the whole diagram

The liner is fixed to the formwork face. When the concrete is struck, the texture stays on the panel and the liner is ready to reuse.

Get in touch

Send us a photograph of the panel or the elevation.

One photograph tells us what surface you're chasing, and one line about the mix tells us what silicone or polyurethane will survive it.

Send an enquiry 01789 224228

Real people, a real workshop

You deal with the people who make it.

No call centre and no middlemen. When you contact TCI Construction, you speak to the team who design, build and check your mould.

A real Warwickshire workshopUnit 15, Waterloo Park, Bidford-on-Avon, Alcester B50 4JG.
Real people on the phoneCall the team on 01789 224228, Monday to Friday.
The same team on every jobDesign, production and aftercare come from the people you see here.
Part of TCI GroupFive specialist brands, one engineering team. Visit TCI Group.

The TCI workshop, with moulds on the bench mid-build.

Thomas LaneManaging Director
George PrestonDesign & Project Manager
Kelly BallingerHead of Partnerships
Jim AndertonProduction Manager
TheodoreEmployee Welfare

Meet the team