Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1355728
Water treatment plant upgrade, City of Greensboro, NC. Water tank protection upgrade, BC Children's Hospital and BC Women's Hospital + Health Centre, Vancouver, B.C. M A R C H 2 0 2 1 | 9 Restoration Products & Services P H OTO G R A P H Y CO U RT E SY X Y P E X C H EM I C A L CO R P.; K RY TO N I N T ER N AT I O N A L Restoration products provide solutions and time-saving benefits to complex projects by ROBIN BRUNET Back To Life I t's no secret that 2020 was a busy year for res- toration projects, especially in the residential sector for obvious reasons, but also in com- mercial/institutional venues across Canada. Brian MacNeil, North American regional manager at Kryton International Inc., says, "Thankfully, concrete construction, includ- ing restoration, fell under essential services during the initial lockdowns, and our contractor network across Canada was busy throughout the year. To cite just one of our products, Krystol T1 is a crucial ingredient to the restoration of BC Hydro facili- ties, protection of in-ground water tanks for the BC Children's Hospital and the BC Women's Hospital + Health Centre, and many other projects." For the Vancouver-based hospital, internal con- crete water tanks to supply emergency drinking water and collect the hospital's wastewater had to be waterproofed. But because they were below grade with no access to the outside of the tanks, a typi- cal waterproofing coating would not have worked on the interior of the concrete walls (it would be too prone to delamination). After considering a polymer-modified cementi- tious coating, the construction team decided to use Kryton's Krystol T1, which would chemically react to water ingress with interlocking crystals that could block any water pathways. For maximum protection, the team also added Kryton Krystol Internal Membrane (KIM) admixture directly to the concrete. Kryton's waterproofing products, all of which employ the company's crystalline waterproofing technology, have grown in variety to the point where they can benefit any waterproofing project, as the City of Waterloo can testify: at first it considered using a brush-applied membrane for the Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex elevator shaft, one component of a complex upgrade that needed to have exceptional structural and mechanical integrity. But the pandemic, access to labour, a compressed construction schedule, and a strained budget com- pelled the builders to use the KIM admixture plus Kryton's Krytonite Swelling Waterstop to ensure that the elevator shaft's joints would be protected from water ingress. These solutions saved considerable time and required a lot less labour, thus enabling the construction schedule to be accelerated. Les Faure, advertising and promotion director at Xypex Chemical Corporation, believes "infrastruc- ture renovation is something that will get a lot of attention in 2021." Faure cites the upgrade of a water treatment plant in the City of Greensboro, North Carolina, as one of the more interesting recent infrastructure renovations for his company. The city had spent over $14 million rehabilitating the Mitchell plant, whose concrete structures both indoors and out were badly deteriorated by ferric sulphate, lime slurry, sodium hypochlorite, and other chemicals. Paste erosion and freeze thaw damage left nearly two acres of basins with exposed aggregate and isolated large missing pieces. A mortar was needed to replace the missing pieces and cover the aggregate, as well as provide water- proofing, vapour permeability, chemical protection, low shrinkage, and freeze/thaw protection – and it also had to be spray applied. The solution turned out to be Xypex's Megamix II repair mortar. As with all other Xypex coat- ing and repair products, Megamix II contains proprietary chemi- cals that react with the water in concrete and with the byproducts of cement hydration to generate a non-soluble crystalline formation in the pores and cap- illaries of concrete. A Xypex technical team advised on proper prep, application, and finishing techniques, and 4,700 tons of the mortar was applied throughout the basins, vertically as well as hori- zontally. A compressive strength of up to 7,700 psi was achieved at 28 days, and it is estimated that this repair project was five to 10 times less the cost of what it would have been to rebuild the basins. Mapei is another company whose adhesives, sealants, and chemical products are crucial to the successful completion of restoration projects, and J.D. Eckmire, director of sales – Western Canada says, "We are constantly upgrading our product line and invest a lot of research and development to achieve better performance with our products."