About

Our history

Alchemco’s unique biochemically-modified waterproofing technology is rapidly gaining acceptance in the North American marketplace, which has translated into a growing market share within the global concrete waterproofing industry.

We’re very proud that in early February of 2020, our hallmark offering (TechCrete 2500 Waterproofing Agent) was voted by the concrete industry as ‘Most Innovative Product’ during the globally attended World of Concrete Convention in Las Vegas, NV. This is an important new milestone for our company, but the story of TechCrete and Alchemco goes back well over forty years … to the mid-1970’s. Here’s how it started …

Curtis Nelson was a chemist, and the inventor of our proprietary biochemically modified silicate waterproofing. He was born in 1932 in Bottineau, North Dakota and joined the Army at 19-years old to serve as a medic in the Korean War. One day while on patrol, Nelson’s unit encountered the enemy and was pinned down by several machine gun placements. Three separate times during the battle he ran from cover to treat wounded soldiers, each time returning to cover without a scratch. For his actions that day, he was awarded the Silver Star … the third-highest medal that can be awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces. It is awarded for singular acts of valor or heroism in combat.

Following his tour of duty, Nelson moved back to North Dakota and attended college … initially majoring in Biology and Chemistry at the University of North Dakota; followed by a graduate degree in Chemistry at the University of Minnesota.

In 1975, Curt’s friend and colleague, Dr. A.W. Smith started work on what is now known as the TechCrete line of biochemically-modified silicate waterproofing products. Dr. Smith was an inventor at heart, and made it his life’s goal to extensively test all of his products. He traveled across the world to prove his products worked as well as he said they did. In 1985, Curt Nelson bought the formula from Dr. Smith, and perfected the formula using new technologies and chemicals that were now available. That year he premiered what we know today as Alchemco’s TechCrete product line.

He then began promotion of his products around the world, increasing the manufacturing capabilities and introducing the products to a wide variety of specifiers and building owners on several continents. For the next three decades, this innovative concrete waterproofing technology continued to grow and prove itself as the best concrete moisture protection available for a wide variety of project types (bridges, parking structures, stadiums, water treatment plants, dams, tunnels, etc.). Driving this growth in the marketplace were several distributor and private-label partners around the globe. One of those partners was Mario Baggio (CEO of Alchemco) who’s initial introduction to these products included acting as a distributor, contractor, and sales representative for over ten years in South America.

During that ten-year relationship, a strong bond was formed between Mario and Curt, and in 2018 an agreement was reached between the two of them, that would allow Alchemco to acquire Curt Nelson’s company (TechCrete, LLC). Alchemco has made the decision to dramatically increase the presence of these products in the North American marketplace, and as part of that plan they re-branded these innovative products into the TechCrete, CretePro, BridgeDECK, GraffitiBlok and ACR product lines.

On February 20th, 2020, the founder of TechCrete, creator of the biochemical silicate technology, and Silver Star recipient Curt Nelson passed away at the age of 88-years old. From North Dakota to Korea and back, his legacy for quality work and acts lives on. His life’s work of preserving concrete infrastructure is now being carried forward by the highly professional team of people that make up our company.

Alchemco is very proud that this forty-year labor of love is now an integral part of our company. We immediately recognized the quality of TechCrete’s product, appreciated the long history behind it, and are intent on bringing the product to a larger market. TechCrete products have been sold in 75 countries over the past 40+ years and have been used in thousands of projects.

With a continuing emphasis on improving our technology and manufacturing capabilities, Alchemco looks forward to bringing these products to a greater international moisture and surface protection market.

Our Purpose

As our slogan states: Today’s solution for tomorrow’s problems; Alchemco was born to provide a solution with a unique technology that has proven its waterproofing capabilities for over 40 years. With the development of new infrastructure, Alchemco aims to be a world leader in concrete waterproofing systems through innovation, education, and professional implementation of our proprietary waterproofing formula. Problems that may occur on concrete such as corrosion, spalling, and carbonation are a thing of the past and will definitely not become a problem tomorrow, with our world-class warranties and project support, you will feel safe in the hands of our qualified professional as we help you specify, execute, and/or distribute our Alchemco family of products.

Our Why

Alchemco permanently challenges the status quo, so we can improve the lives of those around us, while we enjoy the ride!
We challenge the traditional. We do it differently. This can be seen not only in the systems and products we manufacturer, but also the way we do everything we touch.