Fairfax Polyurethane Grouting
The Job
This Fairfax polyurethane grouting project is located at a commercial building used for medical office space in Merrifield, Virginia. The facility is a clinical site for a large regional hospital operator. It houses a primary care and community outreach practice.
The Challenge
The building was built in the 1980s, and will eventually be torn down. However, over the past few years after build out, the floor along the exterior wall settled about 0.75 inches. As the floor settled, the interior finishes along the wall started to cause functional issues for the users. Most of the cabinet and desk drawers were racked and unable to completely close, and office chairs were always trying to roll towards the wall.
The tenant reached out to the owner/property manager, who brought in a forensic structural engineer to investigate the problem and recommend a repair. The structural engineer reached out to CJGeo for recommendations.
Due to the clinic schedule, all demo, grouting, and finish restoration had to be completed in no more than two days. The area of impact is about 1200 square feet.
The Solution
CJGeo recommended injection grouting with CJGrout 28FDL to the structural engineer due to the relatively narrow zone of settlement, and nominal loads due to the light duty use of the space.
A single CJGeo polyurethane grouting crew filled the voids below the floor, lifted back into place and turned it over to the general contractor in fewer than four hours onsite. The general contractor then replaced the VCT and LVP floor tiles that CJGeo drilled through to perform the grouting. The space returned to normal use the following day, without the chairs moving on their own.
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Yonkers Polyurethane Grouting
The Job
This Yonkers polyurethane grouting project is located in Yonkers, New York. The project is part of a renovation of a multi-tenant strip center into a single discount grocery tenant.
The Challenge
During construction, someone on the general contractor’s team thought that areas of the floor sounded hollow. Tapping on the floor, it sounded like a drum. The contractor reached out to CJGeo, and we recommended performing a few cores in the hollow sounding areas.
Coring revealed extensive voids in two areas of the building footprint. Both were along the side exterior walls. In one area of the floor, the voids were up to 4′ deep. The apparent cause for the voids was a longstanding problem with below slab plumbing when the space was a deli and dry cleaner.
The Solution
After the cores were used to confirm the size and extent of the voids, CJGeo recommended CJGrout 20SDB geotechnical polyurethane grout to fill the voids.
CJGrout 20SDB is ideal for filling large voids below floors because it is low exotherm. Many foams used for polyurethane grout are not well suited for filling very large voids.
A plumber installed new sanitary lines below the floor after CJGeo completed the void filling. The void filling only took a single day onsite. It’s important to fill voids first so that cutting new plumbing trenches doesn’t cause catastrophic, unexpected settlement.
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Michigan Polyurethane Grouting
The Job
This Michigan polyurethane grouting project is located near Saginaw, Michigan. The work was done to stabilize the settling basement floor of a sugar beet processing facility.
The Challenge
This facility is nearly 100 years old, and has been settling for as long as anyone currently working there can remember. Over time, as the facility has been expanded, various things have been done to address the settlement. All of the repairs have been to accommodate the settlement, such as adding beams below floors, mass reinforced concrete of footings, etc, but nothing done with the problematic soils below the facility.
Due to nature of sugar manufacturing, process liquids with high sugar content discharging onto the floor is relatively common. Some of this sugary water inevitably flows through joints in the floor, saturating the subgrade with sugary water.
Sugar kills the curing of cement-based grouts, so traditionally cementitious grouting was not an option here. Cementitious grouting is also incredibly difficult to perform as food-grade clean process.
The facility and their consulting structural and geotechnical engineers reached out to CJGeo to see if polyurethane grouting was a good option to address the approximately 10′ of soils below the floor with inadequate bearing capacity.
The Solution
CJGeo’s operations and engineering team evaluated the geotechnical and structural information and determined that a polyurethane and chemical grouting program would be appropriate.
The plan to address the underlying soils and water exfiltration from the basement involved two primary grouting programs. First, compaction grouting using a potable water certified plural component geotechnical polyurethane grout, CJGrout 35NHV61.
The next step of this Michigan polyurethane grouting project was to underseal the floor with single component chemical grout. The goal here was to effectively coat the bottom side of the slab to reduce the ability of process water to exfiltrate the basement and resaturate the underlying soils.
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Virginia Polyurethane Grouting
The Job
This Virginia polyurethane grouting project is located in Blacksburg, Virginia, at Virginia Tech. The work was done to support continued occupancy of the structure, after voids as deep as two feet were located below the floor slab.
The Challenge
A small area of the ground floor slab on grade settled, primarily adjacent to the basement, which is only under about 20% of the building footprint. The basement contains mechanical equipment, and ties to a large crawlspace used as a ventilation duct.
Upon initial discovery, the university’s on-call geotechnical and building envelope consultant performed exploratory drilling to determine the extent of voids. Several auger bores for exploration of the backfill material identified poor control during installation as the most probable cause of settlement.
The Solution
CJGeo was the most responsive bidder on the owner’s solicitation, which called for filling the voids below the floor with CJGrout 20SDB geotechnical polyurethane. 20SDB is specifically formulated for maximum expansion, high mobility, and very low exotherm.
One particular challenge was the amount of glass gravity drain piping below the floor. Because much of the building is lab space, when it was built, the most chemical-tolerant pipe available was glass. So, it was very important that the polyurethane grouting work not damage the relatively fragile pipes.
CJGeo timed its work around spring break to avoid any disruption to classes, research, and offices. The work took six days onsite, and a total of just under 10,000 pounds of CJGrout 20SDB.
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Apartment Floor Lifting
The Job
This apartment floor lifting project is on a military facility in Washington, DC. During turnover of a unit, the property management company discovered signs of significant settlement affecting the interior floor. There was a significant crack showing through vinyl flooring, and up to 1.5 inch gaps below the baseboard in a carpeted room.
The Challenge
The primary challenge for the general contractor on this project was repairing the floor as quickly as possible. The unit was only going to be unoccupied for about two weeks between tenants. The contractor not only had to repaint, install all new floors, but also had to address this settlement.
The Solution
The general contractor reached out to CJGeo to assess the feasibility of raising the floor using polyurethane grouting. Having worked together in the past, the general contractor knew that CJGeo’s polyurethane grouting process is significantly faster than traditional mud jacking or concrete replacement.
A single CJGeo polyurethane grouting crew took less than a day to complete this apartment floor lifting repair. The total area grouted was around 750 square feet. Using CJGrout 28FDL, the grouting process corrected all of the settlement. Because polyurethane grouts are about 95% lighter than traditional grout and backfill materials, the likelihood of the grout material inducing future settlement is virtually eliminated.
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New Jersey polyurethane grouting
The Job
This New Jersey polyurethane grouting project is located in Creskill, New Jersey. As part of a full gut renovation of the library, the architect specified lifting settled areas of the floor. The floor settlement was affecting approximately 3200 square feet, with settlement up to two inches.
The Challenge
The library building is a slab on grade, with relatively light design loads. The floor is approximately four inches thick, and reinforced with welded wire mesh. The original design to correct settlement was to use mud jacking. Mud jacking works well, but is rather slow, and tends to be very messy. Mud jacking uses cement-based grout pumped under high pressure below concrete to fill voids and push the concrete back up. A downside is that the grout is quite heavy, and the additional weight it adds to already compromised soils can cause additional future settlement.
The Solution
CJGeo proposed using CJGrout 28FDL geotechnical polyurethane grout as an alternative to the specified mud jacking process. CJGeo’s value engineer proposal was based on the following benefits of polyurethane grouting over traditional cementitious grouting:
- speed – polyurethane grouting tends to be significantly faster than cementitious grouting
- cleanliness – polyurethane grouting is a very clean process, including dustless drilling, mechanical connections to the slab, and material that scrapes off with a putty knife if it leaks from below a slab
- density – traditional mud jacking grout is approximately 50 times heavier than in place CJGrout 28FDL. This reduces the likelihood of future resettlement by minimizing the additional load that grout places on the underlying soils.
The architect and structural engineer accepted CJGeo’s value engineering proposal for this New Jersey polyurethane grouting repair. A crew of three CJGeo polyurethane grouting experts completed the repair in less than a day. Because polyurethane cures within a few minutes, the general contractor was able to move on to the next steps in the project very quickly.
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Norfolk polyurethane grouting
The Job
This Norfolk polyurethane grouting project is located on a military base. The medical clinic on a military base was being renovated. As part of the renovation, the 650sqft elevated slab front porch needed to be replaced. The slab “sounded hollow,” and the presumption was that there were nominal voids below the slab.
The Challenge
At the start of demolition, the demolition contractor determined that the voids below the slab were closer to 3′ deep. This presented a safety problem for the demolition. The concern was that the slab would fail catastrophically during demolition. The general contractor reached out to CJGeo about ways to reduce the void depth.
The Solution
CJGeo proposed void filling below the slab using CJGrout 20SDB. CJGrout 20SDB is a low exotherm bulk void filling geotechnical polyurethane specifically formulated for deep fill placements without scorching or charring.
CJGrout 20SDB cures to 95% of final strength within a few minutes. Because of this, by the time the crew is packed up to leave the site, the material is effectively completely cured. This is significantly faster than cementitious grouts like flowable fill, and facilitates fast return to service. Because 20SDB is very light, it also reduces the likelihood of inducing settlement compared to traditional flowable fill.
A two person polyurethane grouting crew mobilized to the site and placed approximately 2,900lbs of CJGrout 20SDB in a few hours onsite, allowing the demolition contractor to safely resume work.
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Warehouse Floor Joint Stabilization
The Job
This floor joint stabilization project is located in Ashland, Virginia. About two months after occupying a new warehouse, the tenant identified two joints where the floor “popped” at a joint when a forklift drove over them. After consulting the plans, the owner determined that the joint wasn’t doweled, and needed warehouse floor joint stabilization.
The Challenge
Both affected joints were on main, high frequency travel pathways within the warehouse. So, any repairs had to be done quickly, and with zero impact to operations.
The Solution
CJGeo proposed undersealing the two joints, which had experienced slab curl, with high density geotechnical polyurethane grout. In fewer than three hours onsite, CJGeo undersealed the joints with CJGrout 20SDB, load tested them, and demobilized. There were no impacts to operations of the facility during this warehouse floor joint stabilization repair.
Undersealing is the best method for addressing slab curl joint popping. Grinding or polishing, an alternative method does not stop the movement. Filling joints with rigid joint filler can temporarily stop movement, but typically results in fatigue and cracking. Undersealing for slab foundation repair completely fills the voids below the floor so that the floor can’t move. If the curl is significant enough that it affects ride, polishing can be done afterwards to address ridges.
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Dollar Store Floor Void Filling
The Job
This floor void filling project is located about three hours west of Richmond, Virginia. A commercial contractor was performing a full gut renovation of a dollar store in a strip center. The building was approximately 30 years ago, and there were no signs of floor slab failure or settlement.
The Challenge
While cutting through the floor to install utilities, a 3″ void was discovered below the floor. Exploratory coring determined that voids ranged from 0.5 to 4″ throughout approximately 11,000 square feet of the space. The front of the building is at grade, but the rear of the building has an approximately 7′ tall CMU stem wall, which was backfilled with common borrow during original construction.
The Solution
The general contractor reached out to the structural engineer to notify them of the problem. The structural engineer then reached out to the geotechnical engineering, who recommended polyurethane grouting as the best way to fill voids below a floor. The geotechnical engineering is familiar with polyurethane grouting from working with CJGeo on similar repairs in the past. They know that polyurethane grouting:
- is very clean and fast, so is unlikely to slow progress
- is very lightweight, so is least likely of all grouts to cause additional settlement
- effectively cures instantly, allowing immediate resumption of activities in the area
CJGeo mobilized two geotechnical polyurethane grouting crews to the site and filled the voids over a period of two days. It took about 7,000 pounds of CJGrout 20SDB through approximately 500, 5/8″ holes to completely fill the voids. Cut-off criteria was cross-hole communication. The work was performed without disruption to the renovation activities.
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Fire Station Floor Lifting
The Job
This fire station floor lifting project is located about an hour east of Richmond, Virginia. The concrete slab on the grade floor inside of a fire station on the North Neck of Virginia settled up to two inches. As part of the investigation into the cause, an engineer discovered voids up to 8″ below the slab and multiple broken sanitary sewer pipes below the floor.
The affected areas needing slab foundation repair included a dayroom, kitchen & meeting hall.
The Challenge
In order to minimize disruption to the fire station’s operations, the proposed repair had to be quick, clean, and minimize uncertainty associated with the plumbing repair slab cuts.
The Solution
CJGeo performed ground improvement grouting of the underlying soils to 5′ below-grade utilizing plural component polyurethane compaction grouting, with CJGrout 35NHV. During the compaction grouting process (sometimes called structural polymer grouting), the CJGrout 35NHV lifted the floor back into place.
Because polyurethane injection grouts generally cure very quickly, the floor was repaired the day before the plumbing work was scheduled. This allowed the plumbers a stable work surface and eliminated the risk of stuck saws or sudden collapse of the floor during floor sawing for plumbing access.
Grouting sufficiency was verified by using pre & post-grouting DCP tests.
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