Case Study: John Newton: Severfield Machine Pits
Newton Hydrobond 403 to machine pits in steelwork factory
MAIN CONTRACTOR: Severfield LTD Manufacturer: John Newton
The challenge:
We were approached by Severfield to waterproof large machine pits located underneath a new £2 million steel production line. The pits were inside the water-table and the machinery needed to be kept dry. The pits also had to be highly load bearing and there needed to be a capability to mechanically fix the machinery to the walls and floor.
Our solution:
We specified Newton Hydrobond 403 for the walls and the floors of the pit and Newton water-bars for all day joints. The products are highly hydrophilic so will swell when in contact with water.
The fleeced side of the Hydrobond 403 product creates a mechanical bond to the inner face of concrete. This eliminate the ability for water to track behind membranes and through dayjoints.
The Newton waterbars provide additional protection at dayjoints and are also hydrophilic.
We fixed the Hydrobond to sacrificial shutters using Hilti shot fired fixings. This enabled the product to stay in place whilst reinforcing bars and a single sided shutter was installed. Finally the inner layer of concrete was poured and the product was fully bonded to the concrete.
Once cured the solution was load bearing and allowed the timely fitting of equipment.
The result:
The machine pits were waterproofed and inner concrete installed in 5 working days. The solution we installed used just two waterproofing products and allowed the main contractor to use standard C30 concrete without the need for additional waterproofing additives or specialist products.
The client was happy with the solution and machinery was installed, and mechanically anchored, to the floor the following week.
