Old Parliament House, Canberra
INSTALLER: Andrew Nott from S & A Sealant Canberra
Old Parliament House was opened in 1927 as the house of the Federal Parliament until 1988. Today, this significant historical building is home to a Museum depicting Australia’s rich political history. As a heritage building, constant conservation and sympathetic upgrading is required. Recent upgrading included installing a VIP disabled lift by excavating under the main entry stairs.
It was discovered during the excavation that the main entry stairs leaked severely causing minor flooding.
Eric Martin and Associates were commissioned to produce documentation and specifications for the
rectification and upgrade of the main entry stairs.
In January 2011, ARDEX products were specified and used throughout the project.
Following removal of the existing tiles and multiple applications of various membranes, ARDEX LQ 92 was used to re-establish correct falls, followed by two applications of ARDEX WPM 300 and two applications of ARDEX WPM 002 waterproof membrane. Tiles were directly applied to the membrane with ARDEX Optima tile adhesive and grouted with ARDEX FG 8.
Lure Apartments, Nelson Bay
The dream of a quiet, serene, luxury apartment within a brand new prestigious development in Nelson Bay, NSW is now a reality with a new, easily installed acoustic barrier from ARDEX Australia.
Developers of the prestigious LURE apartments stressed the importance of creating an effective sound barrier between each apartment that would not impede on strict completion deadlines or create undue strain on projected costs, yet still provide a high quality finish.
The project comprised 900 square metres of tiling over both bathrooms and external balcony areas. Local tilers, Newcastle Tiles, utilised a system of compatible ARDEX products for all aspects of the tiling and soundproofing which streamlined the process of specifying, ordering and seeking on-site technical advice during installation.
ARDEX WPM 002, a fast-setting two-part waterproofing membrane, was applied first to both balconies and bathrooms to create a waterproof barrier. This was followed by the combination of ARDEX X 56, a highly flexible tile adhesive, and ARDEX DS 40, an impact sound reduction system, to form the soundproof barrier. Tiles were then fixed directly to ARDEX DS 40.
The ARDEX DS 40 impact sound reduction system was a pivotal product in the overall project due to the pre-cut mats being a consistent thickness of 4.5mm, meaning an overall lower build height was achieved. In addition to providing an excellent uniform acoustic barrier that is essential in helping prevent noise travel between apartments, it is also an extremely fast and easy product to install, using pre-cut mats compared to traditional, messier methods. Field tests have shown that ARDEX DS 40 can reduce noise by 14dB and 18dB when used in conjunction with ARDEX X 56 flexible tile adhesive (as was the case in the Lure apartment project). Utilising the ease of application, Newcastle Tiles was able to have apprentices installing the pre-cut mats while its more experienced tilers laid the tiles – hence reducing installation time and costs.
LURE Apartments were completed on time and to great acclaim.
Jim Haworth of Newcastle Tiles puts it this way: “ARDEX constantly provide reliable, premium quality products and we were delighted with the installation of the ARDEX sound reducing system which, with its many benefits, allowed us to complete the project on time and with cost savings”.
Hoppers Crossing Warehouse
INSTALLER/APPLICATOR: Bravada Waterproofing
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Bravada Waterproofing
CHALLENGE:
50 linear metres of injection to multiply panels
100 linear metres of cosmetic repair using ARDEX RA 88
Timeline concerns (fast turnaround); painting had already commenced
Scissor lift access, difficulty working around fixed equipment (T-Port application)
Multiple tenancies
PROBLEM/ SITUATION:
Structural repair and cosmetic repair to concrete tilt panels. Panels had cracked due to land settlement and had become apparent to building tenants due to leaks coming into the building. Engineering assessment conducted and advised cracks requiring injection and cosmetic defects.
SOLUTION:
Ronald Rose (Vic Sales Manager) was initially contacted by the owner of the building via an enquiry from ARDEX Technical Services, due to his extensive knowledge gained whilst working for ARDEX New Zealand after the Christchurch earthquakes, to conduct a site visit and ascertain if ARDEX products were suitable.
A recommendation was given that repairs could proceed with the ARDEX Crack Repair and Injection System; however, an engineer’s assessment was required on cracks that were substantial. The asset owner engaged engineers and it was identified which cracks required structural injection using ARDEX RA 142, 144 and 146 and which only required aesthetical repairs with ARDEX RA 88. Bravada were engaged after an ARDEX recommendation to carry out the repairs. Due to electrical conduits and pallet racking in place on a number of walls in the varying tenancies, ARDEX RA 146 Blindside Concrete Crack Injection Epoxy Gel was chosen for these areas as the injection material due to the ability to be blindside injected.
UNIQUE ELEMENTS:
Scope of works provided onsite to Bravada team members on products to be used and where.
Using ARDEX RA 146 Blindside Concrete Crack Injection Epoxy Gel
Fast cure of ARDEX RA 88 allowed porting and injecting on the same day
Tech support onsite for initial start-up and routine visits from ARDEX representatives throughout the project
Onsite training provided to new staff members of the contractor
External painting project was not delayed and was able to be completed with minimal disruption to building occupants
Elevation Apartments, Perth
BUILDER: BGC Construction
ARCHITECT: Hassell
CONTRACTORS: Direct tiles Mandurah, All waterproofing solutions
The Elevation Apartments are a prestigious development right in the heart of Perth’s Central Business District.
Reaching over 100 metres into the Perth skyline, the Elevation Apartments consist of 138 luxury apartments spanning over 29 levels that offer stunning views from every direction.
North facing apartments offer district and city views whilst South and South West facing apartments overlook the Swan River, Kings Park, South Perth to Applecross with glimpses of the Indian Ocean.
The main challenge faced by the building contractor was that all the balconies were falling towards the apartments instead of away.
To resolve this, ARDEX was asked to provide a system recommendation that would correct the falls and waterproof the balconies before the tiling commenced.
ARDEX K 005 was selected as a screed to create the required falls. K 005 was an important component as it enabled tiling to commence a lot sooner than conventional sand cement screeds.
Following the K 005 screed, WPM 002 was used as the waterproofing membrane, then Abaflex adhesive and FG 8 grout.
Internally all the wet area’s were installed with WPM 002 waterproofing membrane, X 10 and Abaflex adhesive.
Two layers of WPM 180 shelterbit torch applied membrane was used on the entire rooftop, pool deck, plant rooms and podium levels prior to being ballasted by a brick paving system.
The Elevation Apartments were completed in July 2010 and are destined to become an icon of the Perth City Skyline.
Bresic Whitney Offices, Sydney
INSTALLER: Concrete Artisans – www.concreteartisans.com.au
BUILDER: SPM – www.sherington.com.au
ARCHITECT: Chenchow Little Architects – www.chenchowlittle.com
PROJECT ADDRESS: 318 Liverpool St Darlinghurst
The original plan for the Bresic Whitney office in Surry Hills was to leave a 70mm set down to pour a topping slab and then polish this to create an industrial polished concrete look. In researching this method, time concerns surfaced, as the topping slab would take 4 – 5 weeks to dry before polishing. This was coupled with access & logistic concerns because of the location of the project. In researching this PANDOMO FloorPlus was introduced into the mix to alleviate concerns relating to drying times & installation.
Although PANDOMO FloorPlus and A 38 screed were not as cost effective as polishing a topping slab on paper, a proper cost comparison was prepared by Chenchow Little Architects. In this cost comparison they found that the rapid drying ability of the 65mm A 38 screed (Approximately 24 hours) as well as the 6mm PANDOMO FloorPlus (Also 24 hours) allowed the project to be completed in a far quicker time frame. This allowed the client to take occupation of the building far quicker than the original flooring specified to start generating an income.
An area which also needed addressing in the project was access, and PANDOMO addressed this by allowing the products which made up the system to be craned up to the 2nd level. Once up there, the system was installed in zones. This combined with the ability to walk on the newly poured floor after 3 hours allowed the project to flow without any distraction from the installation of the floor.
An additional feature of using the PANDOMO FloorPlus in the Bresic Whitney project was the ability to produce a high quality finish against composite flooring systems. In this situation the PANDOMO FloorPlus abutted timber flooring to produce a high quality finish throughout, something which is extremely difficult to achieve with a topping slab because of the excessive grinding required.
480 Queen Street, Brisbane
ARCHITECT: BVN Donovan Hill
BUILDER: Grocon Pty Ltd
PANDOMO®: Andrew Dore, Surface Archetypes
Congratulations to Andrew Doré and the team at Surface Archetypes who won 1st Place in their category, ‘Overlays less than ¼” over 5000 square foot’ for their workmanship at 480 Queen Street, Brisbane. This prestigious award was presented by the U.S. Decorative Concrete on the 17th January at the ‘World of Concrete’ that was held in Las Vegas.
480 Queen Street is a 32 storey office tower in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia where 3500 sqm (32670 sq ft) of ARDEX PANDOMO® W1 decorative plaster was installed to walls and ceilings. The tower had a 6-star Green Star rating target, which was achieved in the design and a 5 star NABERS Energy target.
Surface Archetypes supplied and installed PANDOMO® W1 to high level ceilings, to stair walls, to light voids. At the time of the contract being signed by Surface Archetypes never before had this quantity of ARDEX PANDOMO® W1 been installed in a single project and for Surface Archetypes, it was a chance to showcase their expertise in the eyes of the design world.
Surface Archetypes went through rigorous sampling showing colours and styles and countless hours were spent creating colour samples to achieve a finish that met the client’s requirements.
Once on site, the logistics of maintaining colour and effect across the 3500 sqm was a huge task. In the beginning,there were only 2 trowel hands applying the ARDEX PANDOMO® W1; however, at the height of the installation, Surface Archetypes had 9 trowel hands applying the decorative finish in adjacent areas. According to Andrew Doré, this was byfar the most difficult aspect of the installation, ensuring that the pattern effect did not differ from one area to the next.
Andrew Doré from Surface Archetypes said, ‘I developed many grey hairs and tested the patience of myself and the trowel hands because this project was going to be viewed by many across the design industry, and it had to be faultless. The trowel hands had to accept that I was going to be relentless in my quality control mode’.
Fabian Morgan, Managing Director of ARDEX Australia said ‘this is another great innovative use of ARDEX PANDOMO® W1.’
215 Adelaide Street, Brisbane
The refurbishment of this office tower complex included a complete revamp of the ground floor foyer and throughout level one to external entries and bathrooms. Also included in the scope of the work was the lift lobbies within the tower itself. The stunning overhaul took the Peter Johnson Tiling team over eight months to complete, on behalf of Hutchinson Builders. The finished work was nominated by the Master Builders Association of Queensland, with Peter Johnson winning the Commercial Trade Contractor Award for the Year.
ARDEX X 18 was used (with ARDEX E 90 additive) due to the complexity of the installation. ARDEX X 18 provided additional strength to the tiled areas (up to 3 metres high) from the specially formulated fibres within the adhesive.
ARDEX WA 100 – Two Part Epoxy Adhesive for use with Natural Stone. ARDEX WA 100 was used for sections of the wall up to 8 metres high. This product was designed for fixing and bedding natural stone such as marble on walls.
A huge amount of co-ordination was required for coating the 8.5 metre high entrance and foyer with more than 80 tons of finished stone.
The wall tiles were marble, 17-18mm thick weighing approximately 50kg m2. The weight of the tiles and the height of the installation exceeded the ARDEX guidelines (32kg/m2 and up to 3m2 high) for adhesive fixed tiles, so additional mechanical fixing strips were epoxy bonded into grooves cut into the back of each tile and then secured to the wall substrate.
Government Building, 1 William Street, Brisbane
The new Queensland Government Executive building at 1 William Street, Brisbane currently under construction by Brookfield Multiplex Australasia was experiencing surface damage to part of the carpark entry ramp.
For this reason, a topping stronger than the original concrete was required with the ARDEX epoxy screed being selected by Master Floor Preparers (Qld) Pty Ltd as the most suitable system for this application.
The area to be covered was located in the transition zone to the carpark level at the base of the ramp, approximately 6 metres long by 1.6 metres wide and 35 mm thick.
ARDEX Abapoxy was used as the binder for the topping screed, making up approximately 10% of the mixed material. The filler used was ARDEX A 38 Gravel mix, 0-4mm size. This consistency provided close packing that was required so the topping is better able to resist the anticipated loads, although the mix was subject to the availability of these sand sizes and some variation in both sand size and mix ratio was possible. In addition, the sand had to be both washed and dried.
The binder mix consisted of 2 volumes of Abapoxy Part A with 1 volume of Abapoxy Part B mixed together to achieve a homogenous colour. The blended filler sand was added and mixed with a mechanical mixer to achieve a slump free mortar to ensure all the sand was coated with the epoxy binder.
The concrete had to be dry and mechanically prepared to remove all contaminants such as curing compounds and laitance, in addition to being vacuumed to remove any dust.
The procedure was to apply a bond coat of ARDEX Abapoxy with a brush or roller to achieve a uniform thin coating over the prepared concrete immediately prior to placement of the epoxy mortar.
Puddles were brushed out of the epoxy resin bond coat prior to placement of the epoxy screed mortar, the epoxy mortar had to be compacted during placement to remove air pockets. It was then left to harden overnight prior to allowing access to pedestrian traffic, as well as allowing 7 days for the screed to fully cure before allowing vehicular traffic.
RACV Royal Pines Golf Resort, Gold Coast
A premier world-class resort with a steadfast commitment to energy conservation had to work closely with suppliers and builders to overcome some unique hurdles during its recent refurbishments.
The RACV Royal Pines Golf Resort on the Gold Coast undertook an extensive upgrade in which the 27 hole golfing resort was elevated to world class standard.
Key points of consideration during the design and build process were the area’s Zone B grading (second highest wind zone in Australia); a commitment to minimising ongoing energy usage; and a need to continue operation of the resort throughout the refurbishment process.
The roof of the main 21 storey tower building required a new roofing membrane as the existing membrane – bitumen sheet over-coated with a liquid acrylic membrane – was exhibiting early signs of failure with blistering and some cracking appearing.
Specifications required a new membrane that could be installed over the existing membrane – to negate the need for removal of the existing membrane (a process that would present an element of risk to guests and employees of the resort). The membrane would also have to be able to withstand high wind speeds, consistent with its Zone B grading, while contributing to the ongoing reduction in energy consumption.
ARDEX Australia devised a system whereby the ARDEX TPO (Thermoplastic Polyolefin) membrane would be installed using a mechanical fixing technique that would exceed the standards required for the possible high wind uplift pressures of the area.
Key aspects to the specification of the ARDEX TPO membrane were its solar reflectance of a significant 79 per cent – a factor that would reduce the heat absorbed by the building, which is in a sub tropical location, and therefore reduce the energy required to cool the building.
Other factors making the ARDEX membrane the superior option were its extended service life, its ease of installation over the existing membrane and its exceptional sustainability properties.
The TPO membrane was used to cover a roof area of 600 square metres and has a projected lifespan of up to 20 years. Other factors making the ARDEX membrane the superior option were its extended service life, its ease of installation over the existing membrane and its exceptional sustainability properties.
The ARDEX TPO membrane was used to cover a roof area of 600 square metres and has a projected lifespan of up to 20 years.
All aspects of the ARDEX TPO membrane installation complied with the extremely high environmental sustainability standards set by the owners of the development.
Environmentally the ARDEX TPO waterproofing membrane has some definite advantages – its chlorine-free, non-halogenated and plasticizer-free formulation, in combination with the hotair welded seaming method, produce no emissions harmful to the environment. The membrane can also be easily recycled and has a lower manufacturing footprint than comparable systems.
Cumberland Resort Lorne
The popular Victoria hotel, The Cumberland Lorne Resort was facing major disruptions and a loss of bookings due to a seriously degraded roofing membrane causing leaks in a number of apartments and penthouses. The torch-on membrane on the concrete roof had been repaired numerous times with a liquid membrane with little success. Remedial specialists had advised the resort to remove the existing membrane, clean the concrete roof and then apply a liquid membrane to resolve the ongoing issue.
On surveying the 550 square metre roof with its ocean-front location, Full Stop Waterproofing advised that the proposed roof refurbishment would take six to eight weeks to complete. The project could also only be completed during the summer months due to the overly wet weather during the rest of the year. This would cause major distribution to the hotel and its guests and a potential loss of bookings.
After consulting with ARDEX Australia, Full stop Waterproofing was able to suggest an alternative solution which would be quicker to install and prove more effective. The new generation ARDEX TPO sheet roofing membrane would significantly reduce the time and cost of the project along with the environmental impact.
The roof refurbishment of the Cumberland Lorne Resort ended up taking just two weeks with a team of two to three contractors as compared to the eight weeks the initially specified liquid membrane application would have taken.
“The fact that the application process was both fast and could continue irrespective of weather conditions was a major influence in our decision making,” explained Lee Gordon, General Manager, Cumberland Lorne Resort. “The ARDEX TPO not only saved on installation costs but also minimised the disruption to the business which was a major plus for us,” he added.
ARDEX WPM 615 TPO is a high performance waterproofing membrane of thermoplastic polyolefin combining polypropylene and ethylene propylene rubber. The scrim-reinforced membrane combines the durability of rubber with the heat welding properties of a thermoplastic in a flexible sheet. It is hot-air welded to deliver a fully secure, consistent seam quality. In addition, all penetrations and corners of the roof area are made easier to complete thanks to the ARDEX TPO pre-formed corners and boots.
The ARDEX TPO membrane comes in 30 metre sheets, two metres wide and weighs just 1.53kg per square metre. This delivers easier handling than most other waterproofing membranes and a variety of installation options for low slope roofing applications in both refurbishment and new construction projects. The membrane offers single ply protection with fast, hot-air welded seams which deliver a rapid, safe, (no naked flames) installation process.
Environmentally, the ARDEX TPO waterproofing membrane has some very clear advantages; it is chlorine free, non- alogenated and plasticizer-free formulation, in combination with the hot-air welded seaming method, produces no environmentally harmful emissions. The membrane can easily be recycled and has a lower manufacturing footprint than comparable systems. The white colour of ARDEX TPO creates a heat-reflective index of over 70 per cent and a high proportion of this index is retained for the lifetime of the membrane due to its colour fast
retention properties.
For more information on ARDEX Australia’s range of waterproofing solutions, visit www.ARDEXaustralia.com
