Products: VAPORSEAL™, PRIMER SL™ and SKIMFLOW® ES

Russellville Elementary School
Russellville, Ohio

Russellville Elementary School (RES) is located in Russellville, OH, a small town about 50 miles east of Cincinnati. It is part of the Eastern Local School District. The district selected architectural services for the renovation of Russellville Elementary School, along with other projects for the district (including a new high school, new elementary school, and renovation of the middle school).

RES was built in the late 90’s. Over the years they endured increasing problems with their floor covering. Investigation showed excess moisture, resulting from poor drainage around the outside of the building and a lack of a proper vapor barrier below the slab. The architectural team designed a drainage plan for exterior water and worked with Dependable to build a plan to resolve the excess moisture emissions of the interior concrete slab. Calcium chloride testing resulted in readings between 6 – 13 pounds. The specification was designed around VAPORSEAL™ and SKIMFLOW® ES. The SKIMFLOW® ES was selected to smooth the concrete once the treatment was complete to prepare the slab for the new floor coverings.

The job was competitively bid, and being a government project included two competitive systems along with the VAPORSEAL™. The general contract (which included the moisture treatment) was awarded to a company in Hamilton, OH. They entered a pretty precise quote having received a bid from a local leveling company on the installation of the VAPORSEAL™ and SKIMFLOW® ES system.

Work began in June 2008 to prepare RES for the 2008 – 2009 school year. For this contract it was decided to treat the corridors and gym, and to consider treating the rest of the building at another time. They hired another company for surface preparation and installation of the VAPORSEAL™. They removed the existing floor covering along with the adhesive and a layer of patch. A combination of grinding and shotblasting was used to provide the required open, absorptive concrete substrate (CSP of 3). The layer of patch, regardless the type, is removed. Underlayment patches are not designed to work in a wet environment, which will likely occur under the VAPORSEAL™. Also, the bond of the underlayment patch is far less than the epoxy coating.

Once prepared, treatment began with the VAPORSEAL™ began. The VAPORSEAL™ was poured on to the pre-dampened concrete and laid out with a squeegee.

The material was then scrubbed into the concrete to maximize penetration into the slab. The coating was then rolled to smooth and even out the coat. The very next morning they primed the VAPORSEAL™ with PRIMER SL™ and installed the SKIMFLOW® ES. The 19,000 square foot area was done in two phases. This was the first opportunity for them to use SKIMFLOW® ES. They enjoyed the workability and healing qualities of the product.