Image author: Siim Kingisepp
In the Lahekalda district, AS Merko Ehitus Eesti is constructing apartment buildings. A semi-open car parking deck was built under the apartment buildings. The project's specifications dictate the use of crystalline waterproofing admixture within the reinforced concrete structure for waterproofing. However, a question arose within the project team regarding what would happen with the resulting shrinkage cracks in the structure.
Due to their long-term construction experience, the project team knew that shrinkage cracks occur due to the water release during the concrete setting process.
The problem on the site soon led to the crack-inducing waterstops offered by Primostar, which the project manager of the apartment buildings was aware of but needed advice on the implementation side. To get answers to the questions, Jaanus Kruus turned to the creator of the solution, Indrek Uusalu, after which a decision was made to use the crack-inducing waterstops in the intermediate car deck intermediate ceiling.
The Merko team also had other waterproofing solutions in mind, such as:
- WPM® Crack Inducing waterstop and other waterstops + waterproof concrete.
- Classic membrane waterproofing with additional protective layers.
- Ignore the previous points and deal with possible problems later by injection.
Paekalda 19, Lahekalda apartment building (Parking deck area 3000 m2)
How does Primostar look at the problem and solve it?
It is important to assess the loads acting on the suspended ceiling as accurately as possible. Cars cause vibrations to the structure, and in rainy or sleet weather, a considerable amount of water gets into the suspended ceiling, because it is an open parking lot floor. If crack-causing profiles are not used in this structure and dealing with possible cracks is left for the future, then solving the problems would probably be significantly more expensive and complicated.
Merko Ehitus decided to use crack-causing profiles during the construction of the suspended ceiling. This significantly reduced the formation of spontaneous cracks in any place, because thanks to the crack-causing profile, the cracks are in a specific location and are also waterproofed.
We thank the innovative general contractor for his trust and his desire to choose crack-causing profiles for the suspended ceiling during construction.
How satisfied are you with the result?
I am happy with the result today. The concrete surface of the intermediate ceiling looks correct. The parking lot is not yet in use and has yet to receive the proper dynamic loads. I hope the situation will not change.
Would you also use it in future projects?
Today, we can see that the use of the products has justified itself. In the future, it is reasonable to design them into the structures immediately. Clearly, different structures behave differently, and product design should be done in cooperation with Primostar (the most experienced).
In addition, it would be ideal if the products were designed and installed in structures by Primostar. In this case, it is easier to share the responsibility between the concrete and waterproofing contractors, in which case Primostar would provide the waterproofing guarantee directly to the general contractor. This is how we did it here in Lahekalda.
How did the collaboration go?
You are a pleasure to work with, and everything went well. I hope we have a perfect solution and there will be no worries. A small additional cost during construction is better than higher warranty costs later.