Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/331457
Damp Proof Membrane (DPM) and Moist ure Vapor Protec t ion (M V P) product s meet F3010-13's criteria. "When we decided to develop these products, we knew the standard was going to be coming into place," he says. "So we made sure to pre-test them." DPM is for concrete slabs suspended on and below grade, where moisture vapour pressure ranges from 20 to 25 pounds. MVP is for suspended on- and below-grade slabs where moist ure vapour pressure is 10 to 25 pounds. Giles says customers across t he cont inent have t aken to Ma x xon's waterproo�ing solutions. He adds that when a school district in Austin, Min- nesota, decided to install a new bas- ketball court at Ellis Middle School, t he wood � looring inst allers found that the concrete substrate's mois- ture level was too high. The install- ers chose MVP along with Max xon's Dura-Cap concrete-smoothing prod- uct. The wood went down beautifully, and now it won't warp or come up due to moisture. Mixing It Up Another waterproo�ing option embeds m o i s t u r e - r e s i s t a n t s u b s t a n c e s directly in the concrete. That's what Euclid Chemical Company 's Eucon Vandex AM-10 does. This admixture infuses pores in wet concrete with microscopic crystals, so when the mix hardens, it's watertight. Brian Sala- zar, Euclid Canada's national business development manager, points out that the crystalline solution is suitable for a wide range of commercial applica- tions, including foundations, parking structures and water reservoirs. But Salazar also points to a problem with the way some crystalline water- proo�ing solutions providers market t heir of ferings. Cer t ain companies insist that if you use their products, you don't need to install an external water proo� ing membra ne, say ing that the integrated crystals provide adequate protection. "It's a bit of a stretch," Salazar explains, adding that although admixtures have excellent waterproo�ing properties, they per- form even better when combined with membranes. "Ours is a belt-and-suspenders approach. Put your membrane on and use the cr yst alline product in your concrete as a backup. In case the membrane is compromised, you have another layer of protection embedded in the concrete," Salazar says. Builders working on a 43-storey residential project in Coquitlam, B.C. recently used Eucon Vandex AM-10 to waterproof the edi�ice. The building is situated close to a man-made lake and park area. The engineers involved in the project were worried that the nearby body of water, in addition to the unusually high water table in the vicin- ity, would pose moisture problems for the new building. The project team designed a raft slab on piles to sepa- rate the tower from the potentially soggy ground and, as an extra precau- tion, used the Euclid product to further minimize weeping. Protecting Parking Structures Chemical company BASF Canada has a new waterproo�ing product designed speci�ically for the high-traf�ic areas of park ing st r uc t ures. K now n as MasterSeal Traf�ic 2530, this coating incor porates an agg regate-inf used topping that resist s wear and tear much bet ter t han compet ing ure- thane-based systems do, says Paul Hanratty, BASF parking and restora- tion specialist. " We saw that the Achilles' heel of these parking structures was the excessive wear at the entrance and exit areas, where traf�ic volume is high and cars are stopping and starting continu- ally," says Hanratty. Repairs to these high-traf�ic areas can be expensive and disruptive. BASF developed and tested Mas- terSeal Traf � ic 2530. The company modi�ied a technology used for bridge overlays and applied it to park ing s t r uc t u r e s . O ver l ay i n g i nvol ve s encapsulat ing hard ag g regates in an epoxy matrix. The process enables the surface to withstand wear, salts, ac id at t ach a nd ot her punishing conditions. "By installing this product at the entrance and exit areas of a parking structure, you increase the abrasion resistance and the durabilit y of the area immensely," says Hanratty. "The aggregate will never wear out." In just three years on the market, MasterSeal Traf�ic 2530 has quickly become the go-to waterproo�ing prod- uct for durability, not just in parking structures, but also in loading docks and garbage compactor rooms, where heav y bins with sharp wheels can damage conventional waterproo�ing treatments. Corrosive acids can leak from bins onto the � loor, eroding con- crete. MasterSeal 2530 protects the concrete from acid and heav y point loading from bin wheels. BASF, Euclid, Maxxon and Durabond are doing their part to protect build- ings from moist ure damage. Their product s may prove crucial as the risks increase along with changing weather patterns and aging munici- pal sewers and pipes. Savvy builders may consider these solutions worth- while investments if insurance costs rise apace with water levels in rivers and lake. ■ JUNE 2014 /51 Waterproofi ng p.48-51Waterproofing.indd 51 14-06-03 9:51 AM