The condo community
Microorganism growth rising up the wall in a medical room.
Over 1200 town-homes of 1400 square feet each, had grade level slabs that were Over
The Misery of Moisture Related Problems
These abstracts are true situations. However, the names are withheld out of courtesy to the victims.
The super store
A well-known, national retail chain moved into a larger building and sub-leased their old property out to two other well known medium sized retailers. The new tenants complained that the VCT was buckling, delaminating and oozing adhesive throughout the store… and they wanted the landlord to deal with it. Now the landlord (the large chain company) had a history of being able to lay a concrete foundation and open a store within 120 days. This meant that the slab had to dry at its most maximum rate, if it could, so the vapor barrier was eliminated and the water/cement ratio of the slab was very high creating large cavities that turned into capillaries for vapor and mineral migration to the surface.
In order to repair the problem, a crew had to move in at closing each night, mask and visqueen all the merchandise in the work area, remove the failed tile floor, remove the gypsum patch with hand tools, fix all the potential trip hazards, clean up the mess, and remove all the masking for opening the next business day. It took 540 hours for a four man crew over 21 days to perform this one step alone only 1200 square feet.
The General Hospital
A large California general hospital discovered a problem condition and sought the best way to treat it. They investigated a number of companies who could promise to warrant against failure. Ultimately, they did what all humans do and made a decision based upon the representation they received by the product manufacture. The 15,000 square feet slab was treated with a silicate-based penetrant. In only 6 months the flooring system experienced a total failure. The time taken for meetings and legal action was on problem. The logistics of shutting down a hospital wing to fix a failure is a much greater one. Ultimately, it cost the hospital a million dollars to shut down these sections. That is equivalent to over 65 dollars per square foot.
The biological laboratory
A very well known university had a below grade laboratory which had an 11 year old epoxy flooring system. The old coating employed solvents that were tolerant of moisture and high pH, and broadcasted sand, which made the coating somewhat permeable.
|
|
The
coating withstood 10 pounds of vapor throughout its existence. Because a new
researcher was moving into this room, they decided to “dress up” the floor by
recoating the old system with a high solids epoxy. The suppression of vapor
emission caused both the old coating and the new coating to blister and
delaminate. It cost 5 dollars a square foot just to chisel out the old flooring.
The concrete was so bad that the only solution was an expensive raised flooring
system. The condo community |
|
Microorganism growth rising up the wall in a medical room. |
Over 1200 town-homes of 1400 square feet each, had grade level slabs that were Over |
1200 town-homes of 1400 square feet each, had grade level slabs that were made with 2000 psi concrete and no under slab vapor retarder. Most all of the vinyl floors delaminated and the carpets got moldy. It would have cost an additional 30 cents per square foot to build them properly and instead it cost several million dollars to do over again.
The sports arena
An exclusive sports facility in California had a substantial moisture problem and was treated with a silicate based liquid made by famous chemical manufacture. The floor was an intricate pattern, and failed shortly after installation over the “treated” concrete slab. The applicator of the silicate product claimed “the product was so powerful; it will penetrate all the way through the concrete”. The damages were over $50,000.00 in materials costs alone.