Parking Structure Crew Beats the Heat

Nash was under pressure to complete the rooftop parking

structure at Saddleback Memorial Medical

Center during one of Southern

California's hottest and longest-lasting heat waves. Did they beat

the heat and get the job done. Saddleback

Memorial Medical

Center is a world-class medical center

located in southern Orange County,

California. Saddleback was

recently named one of the top 100 hospitals in the United

States by Thomas Reuters, an independent health research

organization, and is ranked Best

Hospital in several

medical specialties by U.S. News & World Report. But according to John the

heat wave brought unseasonably high temperatures for weeks on the end. Nash of

Nash Deck Coatings, the three-level parking structure at the medical center was

no living up to expectations.

"There was sever peeling and flecking of the existing

top coat on the access ramps and roof deck of the parking structure," explains Nash."

It seems like an inferior product was put down very thin on the deck, and it

was peeling pretty badly."

Something needed to be done to the 15,000-square -foot

access ramp and roof deck area to restore safe and functional parking. This is

where Polycoat Products' Polyprime Uand Poly-I-Gard 246SC came

into the picture.

                                

HOT TIRES, GOOEY MESS

 

A peeling top coat was not the only issue with the roof

deck. Send had not been broadcast into the existing coating system, making the

deck extremely slippery when wet.

        "When it rained,

cars and people would go skidding and sliding around," Nash says. ,"

In addition, the hot tires of the cars that drove up the access ramps and onto

the roof deck took the material with them, leaving a peeling and slippery mess.

To make sure everyone remained safe, the top level of the parking structure had

to be closed whenever it rained."

While Saddleback

Memorial Medical

Center staff felt it

necessary during inclement weather to close the roof of the parking structure

to ensure patient and visitor safety, they realized doing so was not an

acceptable solution.

Nash performed a number of adhesion tests to make sure that

the Polyprime U and Poly-I-Grad 246 SC would properly adhere to the existing urethane

base coat. "If we had adhesion tested it and the primer lifted, we would

have had a problem," says Nash. "But that was definitely not the case with

the saddleback project."

         Since the polycoat products coatings passed

the adhesion tests by adhering to the existing urethane base coat, it was

determined that only the top coat needed to be completely removed the base coat

could remain on the concrete substrate - thus saving the client a great deal of

money and time.

"At that point in time, we were ready to apply Polyprime U

directly to the existing base coat," says Nash

Adriaan van der capellen, southern California sales manager for polycoat,

agrees that Polyprime U was the right choice for the job.

 "Polyprime U is

an intercoat adhesion primer for existing urethane systems," explains van

der capellen. "It really takes a hold of and bites in to the existing urethane."

 

STIFLING HOT

 

According to Nash during the late summer and early fall of

2012 there were many days temperatures soared to above 100 F (37.78 C) in

southern Orange County, California, which is quite an unusual

occurrence.

"It was 109 F (42.78C) outside, and the temperature would be

even higher on the roof deck, " says Nash. " It was ridiculously

hot." It was decided that postponing the job might be the best option. By

the end of the two week period, Nash and his crew were eager to get started on

the job, not to mention eager for the weather in southern California to return to normal. With no end

the heat wave in sight, Nash had to pull the trigger.

"We had to go in on the third week regardless of the

heat wave," Nash says. "The job had to get done!"

After making the decision to go ahead with the job. Nash and

his five man crew began the surface preparation. The entire roof deck area and

all access ramps were power washed using a power washer.

"We power -washed the deck on the Sunday before we

started surface prop and coatings," says Nash. He and his crew needed to be

finished with the job within five working days, so they took advantage of the

slower vehicular and pedestrian traffic on the weekend to get a jump on the

first step of the process.

"Since the hospital never closes, the parking structure

needed to remain open," Nash says. "The two lower levels were open even while

we were doing work on the roof.

Once the deck was power-washed, the crew got down to the

business of removing the existing top coat using a grinder. The deck was

divided into three sections and each section was preppes, repaired (if

necessary), primed, and coated before moving onto the next section.

                    "The

very last section was into he worst condition", says Nash." It was the largest

section and had the most traffic come across it, so it makes sense that it was

the most damaged".

               In all

the sections, the crew made concrete repairs as necessary before moving on to

priming and coating. Depending on the severity of the cracks, the crew used

gun-grade urethane, embeded carbon fiber tape, and/or caulking to bridge the

gaps.

 

THREE-HOUR CURE

 

With surface prep and repairs made, the crew was ready to

apply the Polyprime U.Using squeegees and rollers, the Nash Deck crew applied

the high-solids primer to the roof deck at 3 mils (76.2 microns), DFT. Under

typical circumstances, Polyprime U should be coated within 12 hours after it

has becomes tack-free; however, because of the extreme heat, the primer cured

much faster.

                   

"We were able to apply the Poly-I-Gard 246SC within three hours

after we laid down the primer," Nash explains.

                     Poly

–I-Gard 246sc is a single component ,moisture- cured, aromatic polyurethane waterproofing

membrane.Poly-I-Gard 246SC is designed for use in Southern California to meet

the region's low volatile organic compound (voc) requirements.These

requirements are set forth and regulated by the South Coast Air Quality

Management District (SCAQMD),which encompasses most of Los Angles, an

Bernardino ,Riverside, and all of  Orange

Counties. The SCAQMD regulates all sources of stationary sir pollution for the

aforementioned regions.

                    The crew poured and rolled the

Poly-I-Gard 246SC at a thickness of approximately 10 mils (254 microns).Nash credits

the Polycoat materials for performing incredibly well under unusual

circumstances.

                        

"I was a little worried about gassing because of the high

temperatures," Nash says." It wasn't a problem with the polycoat Products

coatings. There were no

bubbles and no gassing." Nash did, however, make some

adjustments. Both the Polyprime U and the Poly-I-GARD 246SC are sensitive to heat,

so Nash was very careful with batch sizes, especially the primer." I mixed the

two-part Polyprime U primer in half batches-we mixed two-and-a-half gallons,

sometimes less, at a time instead of the usual five gallons." Nash says.

 

NO DAY AT THE BEACH!

 

Working feverishly, the Nash Deck crew broadcast Cemex-brand

Lapis Luster 2/16 sand onto the wet coating.

"We needed to have a fairly aggressive non-skid

component added to the coating system," says Nash. In the highest traffic areas,

there was adouble broadcast, ensuring excellent non-skid properties. Two final

coats of 10 mils (254 microns), DFT, of Poly-I-Gard 246sc were then laid on the

entire deck area. In the areas of highest vehicular traffic, the coating

systems has a thickness of over 40 mils (1016 microns) that protects the

existing urethane base coat and underlying concrete substrate. The non-skid component

of the system ensures that cars and pedestrians do not slip and slide in wet

conditions.

"We finished on Friday and the stripers came in on Monday,"Nash

says." The roof deck of the parking structure was open to pedestrains and

vehicles on Tuesday." Throughout the project, Nash and his crew followed all

standard safety procedures.

 

THEY BEAT THE HEAT

 

Polycoat Products made a great work on this parking

structure roof. Polycoat's Vander Capellen is extremely happy with the outcome

of the job.

Nash is quick to point out he is impressed with the coatings

and his crew.

"I've been doing this a long time -25 years -and I am

really happy with the way the Poly-I-Gard 246SC performs," says Nash. Although

this was Nash Deck Coatings first job for Saddleback Memorial

Medical Center,

with the way his crew beat the heat to recoat and reopen the parking structure,

Nash bets it will not be the LAST!