Alchatek Blog

Alchemy-Spetec is excited to welcome Brian Oeder as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Brian brings with him over 25 years of experience in manufacturing and growth-oriented companies. He has extensive business experience in over 30 countries across 6 continents, due to his leadership positions at two internationally based companies. He has served a wide variety of clients in industries such as petrochemical, oil & gas, mining, and automotive. His diverse background includes management of marketing and sales teams, service, internal support, and training. He especially enjoys on-site technical support and managing technical support professionals. Brian holds degrees in International Business and Marketing from Ohio State University, and a Master of Business Administration from Xavier University. He resides in Cincinnati, Ohio with his wife and three children.

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This article is an excerpt from Episode 11 of The Injection Connection, featuring a highlight from the landmark conversation between retired industry legend Captain Grout (aka Paul Layman) and his number one protégé and unofficial successor, The Grout Geek (podcast host Charlie Lerman). If you'd rather view or listen, an audio/visual version of this excerpt is posted at the bottom of the article.

Charlie Lerman: What are some of the most unique and interesting jobs that you've been on?

Paul Layman: Well, we did the Hoover Dam and we did the Seattle tunnels. But on the job I did up in Canada on the water system for the city of Vancouver, we were in shafts that went down 1800 feet, 600 meters. When you get down there, it's pretty dark and cold and when the pumps go off or the electric goes off, it gets pretty dark. Those are some of the neat projects. Then of course, the projects we did up in Alaska, above the Arctic Circle. We did a huge tank up there for CH2M Hill. The tank was over a million gallons and we had to stabilize the whole bottom underneath it, over permafrost! We had to fly everything up in an airplane of course and then unload it. And the mechanics up there, the kids at work, they were just as smart as could be. They knew how that structure was going to work. And so, from Arizona, the Salt River Project down along the Colorado all the way to the Arctic Circle -  and then being in gold mines...every structure was different and neat. It was a challenge. It was fun because you met a lot of neat people and a lot of characters too. Everybody had their little niche and it was just a neat job. It really was. It wasn't work, it was every day you got a new adventure.

Charlie: A lot of times when you talk to people in the grouting industry, and maybe I'm biased because that's where I've been for the last 15 to 16 years, but they're passionate about it. They find it interesting. It's not just the standard, "I'm just going to apply a coat of this and we move on to the next tank" or something. It's always unique. You brought up some remote sites there and I found it interesting in my career where I've had engineers talk to me about a project and I'm like, “Well, that sounds like you should do cementitious grouting.” And it turns out not to be cementitious grouting just because of the remoteness. They can't get concrete out to a site or something like that. I've seen urethane jobs where just because of mobilization they had to use the chemical grout. So, it's not always the most cost effective when you compare materials but, when you need mobilization then the chemical grout comes in.

Paul: One time we had to go out to the Aleutians. And we put I think about 15, 20 pails of grout in the airplane and then we put in another 15 pails of fuel. We had to put the fuel in the airplane too because we got out on the islands and they had to get themselves back. So, we had the grout and the fuel, and the plane had to carry all of it out there.

Charlie: That is so cool.

Paul: When we got out there, the guys pull out the 15 pails of fuel and start fueling the airplane up so they can get back. They leave us with our grout there on the Aleutians. It was just neat stuff like that, along with the people you meet out there.

Charlie: Right, very much so. That's awesome.

Paul: And all the equipment we put in big trunks. What we didn't take with us we weren't going to find at the local hardware store because there were none for a thousand miles.

Charlie: That is real important and specifically there. But it's similar even when you're just a couple miles in a tunnel and just the 20 minutes to get back out to get that screwdriver your team forgot. So, it's important to make those lists and know what you need to have.

Paul: Yeah. We were doing a mine up in Alaska and the grout started getting away from us. We were down two miles in the mine but luckily, we had enough catalyst and cleaning agent that we could save the grout and the pump, because otherwise we would never have time to take it up to the entrance and fix it. We would have lost a pump and we're 100 miles, 200 miles from the closest civilization. So, we would have been toasted up there. Again, those are things you just learn after the years of doing this stuff.

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This article is an excerpt from Episode 11 of The Injection Connection, featuring a highlight from the landmark conversation between retired industry legend Captain Grout (aka Paul Layman) and his number one protégé and unofficial successor, The Grout Geek (podcast host Charlie Lerman). If you'd rather view or listen, an audio/visual version of this excerpt is posted at the bottom of the article.

Charlie Lerman: What are your top, maybe one, two or three common mistakes you see when people get into grouting?

Paul Layman: I think they get overambitious and say, “We can fix this and we can fix that,” or they don't have quite the right knowledge or they don't recommend the right product. Like one of the projects we were on, they were going to recommend an acrylate. And really it wouldn't have worked well for an acrylate because the way it was designed, it was about 50% water. That's probably the thing, they overthink the job too much. It's a fairly simple process but you don't want to overthink it. Just be straightforward and just take your normal steps and work from there because the products really work well and depending where you're at you can massage these products and change them in the field if you have to, but the simpler the process, the easier it is.

Charlie: Right and that's real important. Jim (Alchemy-Spetec VP Jim Spiegel) likes to use a term, he calls it fail forward. And I like that. Fail is not necessarily maybe the right exact term for grouting but there's a lot of theory crafting where people say, “Oh, well, we know in a lab the grout does this, this and this.” And then they assume that they have lab conditions out there in the field. And you don't. You have field conditions; you don't know what's out there. So, all the theory crafting you do, until you get out and actually pump some grout and see what you've got going on, it's all guesswork at that point. I think that kind of ties into what you're saying there.

Paul: Absolutely. And then you've got the mechanics in the field and you've got some smart guys in the field and when you come up on a project, they may already have figured it out. And so, listen to the people in the field because that's where I've learned a lot of my techniques. These guys in the field are smart people, they're intelligent people and they can give you some really good guidance and little tricks. Then you can pass those on. Don't be afraid to listen to them.

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This article features intros and links to our top 5 most popular seawall repair blogs:

• Stop Erosion Through Your Seawall with Polyurethane
• An In-Depth Look at Polyurethane Seawall Repair
• Residential Seawall Repair
• Signs a Seawall is in Need of Repair
• Polyurethane Foam for Seawall Repair - Technical Details

Get up to speed quickly with these blog posts.  You may also want to visit the seawall repair application page for an animated explainer video, product info, and links to all seawall repair blog posts.

Stop Erosion Through Your Seawall with Polyurethane

A seawall is like a living, breathing thing: especially in the way that it is designed to function. But like all living breathing things, seawalls have a finite lifespan. For many of them, it's a mere 20 – 30 years. Depending on where you live, replacing a seawall can cost anywhere from $150 to $500 per foot. That's enough for some homeowners to choose to move instead of rebuilding their seawalls. Today however, signs of seawall distress can be solved before they get too bad through the application of polyurethane grouts to seal leaks, fill voids, and stabilize the surrounding soils. Click here to read more...

An In-Depth Look at Polyurethane Seawall Repair

In this blog post we’ll look at an innovative way to repair seawalls instead of replacing them by stopping high flow leaks, filling the voids behind concrete structures and binding loose soil with polyurethane foam. As tidal flows rise and fall, water pushes its way in through cracks, joints, and defects in seawalls. The water pushes in on incoming tides and flows out on outgoing tides. As the water flows out, it carries sand and soil with it which causes undermining of the structure. Click here to read more...

Residential Seawall Repair

If you love the ocean, then living near the water can be an ideal situation most of the time. You can enjoy scenic views of the sea, easy access to the water, and gentle ocean breezes as you sit out on your deck. But one challenge many oceanfront home owners eventually find themselves facing is leaking seawalls. You depend on seawalls to keep water on the outside and the the soil that supports your property on the inside. The seawall protecting your property is vulnerable to many degrading factors. Click here to read more...

Signs a Seawall is in Need of Repair

Salt corrosion, tidal action, currents, boat wakes, storm surges and sometimes hurricanes all deliver a constant beating on the seawall. Contrary to popular opinion, many of the forces also come from the side of the wall facing the land. Did you realize that rainfall/storm events create more hydrostatic pressure than rising and falling tides? Every time it rains or the irrigation system runs, and every time the tide goes out; all of the groundwater above the waterline needs a place to vent or equalize. Massive pressure can build up if that water is trapped, making it impossible for it to drain into the sea or storm water system. That is a recipe for disaster which can easily be avoided with proper surveillance. Let's take a look at some of the external signs a seawall is in need of repair. Click here to read more...

Polyurethane Foam for Seawall Repair - Technical Details

Repair sea walls instead of replacing them by stopping high flow leaks, filling the voids behind concrete structures and binding loose soil with AP Fill 720 & AP Fill 700 — innovative, cost effective, water activated, low viscosity, simple to use closed cell polyurethane injection resins. Click here to read more...

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Episode 11 of The Injection Connection features a landmark conversation between retired industry legend Captain Grout (aka Paul Layman) and his number one protégé and unofficial successor, The Grout Geek (podcast host Charlie Lerman). Don't miss this info-packed discussion between these two chemical grouting heavyweights!

Listen to the episode in its entirety below, or check it out on TheInjectionConnection.com and the following platforms:

• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts
• SoundCloud
• Google Podcasts
• YouTube

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This article is an excerpt from Episode 10 of Alchemy-Spetec's podcast The Injection Connection, featuring Alchemy-Spetec independent rep John Ziebell. Formerly the Vice President of Operations for Deneef Construction Chemicals, Inc., John has 36 years of experience in the chemical grout industry and is currently a member of the International Concrete Repair Institute (ICRI). (If you'd rather view or listen, an audio/visual version of this excerpt is posted at the bottom of the article.)

Charlie Lerman: What do you feel about this trend where we're seeing these large, major corporations coming in and buying up companies like De Neef and Prime Resins? How do you think that's going to affect the industry?

John Ziebell: I think it's a two-edged sword. The problem, when it was just the small people, when I first started - you had De Neef, you had Avanti, 3M was still in the business. We really didn't see a lot of other grouts. Occasionally, we'd see something coming from Germany, a couple of other guys that I can't think of right now. But nobody really had any good technical data or technical support. What I mean is if you looked at a data sheet, if you put a De Neef data sheet and Avanti data sheet and a 3M data sheet side by side on comparable material, they all had different test methods. Some of them used rubber industry, ASTM rubber, test methods. Some used ASTM plastic industry test methods, etc. So, it was really hard for a customer, for an engineer or somebody to compare apples and oranges to see exactly what he was getting.

The technical support was pretty weak and sparse in those days, but you did get more personal attention as a contractor. I think with the advent of the big companies, hopefully, they will spend the time and the money to develop better technical information, better tools, better case histories, things like that to offer to the industry. But I see guys out there now who are giving technical support and sales support in the field, who really don't know anything about chemical grouts. They have a degree. They're nice looking young people. They have a - well, they don't have a catalog in their hand anymore - they have an iPhone or some kind of cell phone. But they themselves when you talk to them at society meetings and stuff, they don't really know anything about chemical grout.

Charlie: I've seen that with some of the larger companies where, I mean, they're known for great customer service. But they cover such vast lines that they don't have that intrinsic knowledge of grouting that you need on that level. So, I agree with you on that.

John: And one thing that they could never do, they could never do something you do and something that I used to do before I got old - they could never get down in a hole, get down in a manhole or go underground in their coveralls and actually show a contractor how to inject. They don't even try; they don't even want to.

Charlie: Right. I had a proud moment, and I am known for wearing like severely grouted clothes and stuff like that, kind of people even make fun of it. But I showed up at a job site in the Portland, Oregon area and it was for a manhole; and as I'm walking up, there's the two classic guys you're going to picture for going down in a manhole. They're standing there and one is handing a dollar to the other one. And I said, “What's going on here? Just handing out money?” And he goes, “No, I bet him that you're going to show up wearing a suit.” So, they thought as a manufacturer rep, I was going to come out there in a suit and try to tell them how to grout. But I was wearing my waders and everything, ready to get down in there. So, that is, I think, an important thing in the chemical grout industry - having that kind of support.

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This article is an excerpt from Episode 10 of Alchemy-Spetec's podcast The Injection Connection, featuring Alchemy-Spetec independent rep John Ziebell. Formerly the Vice President of Operations for Deneef Construction Chemicals, Inc., John has 36 years of experience in the chemical grout industry and is currently a member of the International Concrete Repair Institute (ICRI). (If you'd rather view or listen, an audio/visual version of this excerpt is posted at the bottom of the article.)

Charlie Lerman: What are some of the most common mistakes you see over and over again?

John Ziebell: The two biggest by far are my pet peeves and they're my number one problems for all 36 years. Number one, the contractor does not know or does not determine the thickness of the structure that he's trying to drill into to seal leaks. He puts his injection holes too close to the crack or joint and he drills at such a shallow angle that - let's just say it's a 12 inch thick wall and he's actually intersecting the crack two or three inches in.

This leads into problem two - he starts pumping the grout and as soon as he sees the milky white liquid at the surface, he stops pumping and goes to the next injection hole, the next injection packer. So, he may have filled four or five inches at best of that 12 inches. All the rest of that crack is wide open, the water is still on the reinforcing steel, corroding it. It's finding hairline cracks, it's wicking off into other areas. So, those are number one and number two above everything.

Number three, and this is mainly contractors who make this mistake. A lot of old-time contractors simply do not want to use any type of grout that requires an accelerator because they think it's like an epoxy and once they mix it up, they've only got a short period of time before it's going to gel their pump. And I have talked until I'm blue in the face about this, but they still use hydrophilics on everything. Now, if you're down in a sewer, I know you've got a lot of experience in sewers and manholes and stuff, you're okay because it's wet all the time. But boy, you get up in the kind of thing that I've done mostly through the years here in Texas where you got wet-dry cycling, and you put the hydrophilic in there? It's almost assuredly going to weep at some point in the future. So, those are really the three biggest problems. The first two are the biggest by far.

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This article is an excerpt from Episode 10 of Alchemy-Spetec's podcast The Injection Connection, featuring Alchemy-Spetec independent rep John Ziebell. Formerly the Vice President of Operations for Deneef Construction Chemicals, Inc., John has 36 years of experience in the chemical grout industry and is currently a member of the International Concrete Repair Institute (ICRI). (If you'd rather view or listen, an audio/visual version of this excerpt is posted at the bottom of the article.)

Charlie Lerman: What are then some of the most interesting or unique type of applications have you’ve seen for chemical grouting?

John Ziebell: All of them in their own way are unique. I think some of the big semiconductor jobs in Austin that we did with injection tubes were really pretty interesting because they were challenging due to the enormity of the project and the size of some of the walls and everything. I think some of the jobs that I've worked on down in the water table in general were probably the most interesting because when you're working in the water table, it's pretty unforgiving. You either do it right or you do it wrong. And when water is squirting up six, eight feet high all around you, that kind of gets your attention. I had a job in California back in my De Neef days, in Redwood City. In California, land is so valuable that even for shopping centers they build massive parking garages underground and we had a waterproof membrane failure in one of those garages. When we drilled our injection holes, the water squirted out eight to twelve feet. So now, you’ve got a problem of: how do you even get your grout to go in? So, we had to do things that you normally don't do, like set up relief valves and actually put faucets on them to control the rate of flow so we could get water into the rest of the holes. Things like that, I remember vividly.

I remember on a job right next to that one, where a contractor was actually putting a curtain under the bottom slab in a six-story parking garage. Believe it or not he actually heaved a five-foot thick slab in the bottom of a parking garage with an expansive chemical grout. That was kind of interesting because it was so improbable that he would be able to do it. I realize chemical grout, highly expansive grout, exerts 300, 400 PSI. I understand that but still, when you think five foot of reinforced concrete? But he did it.

What else was interesting? I mean, they've all been interesting, I kind of fell in love with chemical grout that first year I was in the business. And I'm just as excited today about working on a small job as I am working on a big one.

Charlie: I share that excitement, and one of the biggest compliments I get when I talk to people is when they say that they see that I'm passionate for it. It's because I find grouting very mentally stimulating. It's a game where you get to go out there, and you know your pieces and you know how your grout works - but you can't see into that wall. So, it's figuring out what's going on in there and sometimes it's not very intuitive, but it's exciting.

John: Actually, after all these years right now, I'm working on probably the most interesting or at least the most challenging job that I've ever had. It's on a dam, a huge dam built in the 30s in central Texas on one of the Highland Lakes. And we have leaks through the joints that approach five, six hundred gallons an hour. And these joints are 30 feet in the air on an arched dam. There all kinds of problems with access, working conditions, etc. So, even after all these years, this one really has my attention.

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With the Covid-19 situation intensifying again as the weather gets colder, you may want to consider stocking up on Alchemy-Spetec Surface Cleaner - an essential supply for any workspace or household.

75% Isopropyl Alcohol Surface Cleaner

In addition to our hand sanitizer, Alchemy-Spetec is pleased to offer a surface cleaner to help reduce bacteria & viruses that potentially cause disease. It is an isopropyl-based formula that can be used to clean many types of surfaces. The cleaner can be applied directly to the surface or applied via a spray bottle (not included).

Applications for Surface Cleaner

• Door handles.
• Counter tops.
• Grocery carts.
• Bathrooms.

Advantages of Surface Cleaner

• 75% isopropyl alcohol by volume, plus hydrogen peroxide.
• Leaves no film or residue.
• Dries quickly.
• Sprayable for cleaning surfaces.

We are currently offering one standard packaging option:
A Case of Four 1-Gallon Jugs
(For bulk orders - please call 404-618-0438.)

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This article is an excerpt from Episode 10 of Alchemy-Spetec's podcast The Injection Connection, featuring Alchemy-Spetec independent rep John Ziebell. Formerly the Vice President of Operations for Deneef Construction Chemicals, Inc., John has 36 years of experience in the chemical grout industry and is currently a member of the International Concrete Repair Institute (ICRI). (If you'd rather view or listen, an audio/visual version of this excerpt is posted at the bottom of the article.)

Charlie Lerman: What are some of the pitfalls that you see for young engineers when they specify chemical grouting?

John Ziebel: That's an interesting subject because I've talked to a number of senior engineers about it and I'll use one as an example, the gentleman that's the senior structural engineer for this region for CDM Smith in Dallas. He and I were bemoaning the fact that the younger engineers, especially the millennial generation, want to conduct all of their business via the internet, email and the social media platforms. They don't want to meet anyone in person. They seem terrified if you ask them if you can stop - this is pre-pandemic - if you ask if you can stop by their office for a few minutes. It seems to just scare the hell out of them. And he told me that in tutoring the young engineers, he tells them, “If you have a job that goes south on the Friday after Thanksgiving and you need somebody out there at the job site from the manufacturer that day. If you have never met the guy, he has no idea who you are, and you call him up and say, ‘Could you come out here?’ He's going to tell you, ‘No, I'm with my family for Thanksgiving. I can come Monday.’ But if he's somebody you know and you've been down in the hole with and maybe had had lunch with or drank a beer with after work, he's very likely going to say, ‘Give me a couple hours and I'll be there.’”

So, I think the biggest pitfall is that they have no personal relationship with the technical representatives for the various products. The second pitfall is that when I have asked them if I can come see them about a job, they have often said, “Well, we'll get your information off your website.” And in my case, Alchemy-Spetec has an excellent website, very informative. But I tell them, “Well, that's true and it tells you all about the products but it doesn't tell you which product is the best for your situation.” And then they usually say, “We'll send you some pictures and you can email us your recommendation.” So, I think that the lack of personal contact and the lack of actual experience at the site with the products is probably the biggest shortfall of the young engineers today.

Charlie: I agree with you and I think they are not necessarily going at it the wrong way, it's just that they are inundated with so much information at their fingertips digitally that they assume they’ve got it all. But just because I read a book or watch a video on how to hit a home run, that doesn't mean I can go out there and hit a home run. It takes the field experience and spending some time out there and doing those things. Excellent, thank you.

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