Effectively protecting your concrete structure against water, is the single most important step you can take to ensure that it lasts decades instead of years.

Protecting Your Assets by increasing the durability and sustainability of your concrete structures

Description

Effectively protecting your concrete structure against water, is the single most important step you can take to ensure that it lasts decades instead of years. The U.S. Government is budgeting over $1 trillion dollars to repair our crumbling infrastructure (most of which is built out of concrete), largely because the proper waterproofing steps have not been taken for these structures. This presentation will educate you on available methods to protect your parking structure over the long-run, so you can avoid making the same mistake they did. Universities and Municipalities… This presentation will show several Case Studies of how different municipalities are protecting their important assets.

Concrete is the world’s most utilized construction material. Because of its cost effectiveness, and perceived durability, we use concrete to build most of our long-term infrastructure projects: from bridges, to dams, to ports, to buildings, to stadiums, to parking structures. A common misconception among owners and facility managers, is that concrete will last forever … without needing any additional protection! However, concrete structures just like anything else, must be properly protected & and maintained in order to survive for the full-term of their designed lifespan. Water … and the damage it can cause, is concrete’s Achilles heel. There is no greater danger to the longevity of your concrete structure, than the damage that water can cause. This can include: cracking & spalling due to freeze/thaw issues … corrosion of steel renforcement … chloride ion migration … etc. Repeatedly applying surface coatings or membranes to the concrete is only a temporary fix for a long-term problem. The better, long-term solution is to waterproof the concrete itself (yes, it is possible).

Objectives

Teach the audience how important it is to protect & preserve their concrete structures. Case studies will be shown involving a number of different projects. There will also be a brief introduction to the waterproofing solutions available in the market place.