A homeowner in Alaska reached out to contractor Ace Dragon about leaks in their basement. The basement was built with insulated concrete form walls that are typically installed in colder climates. Despite being an excellent solution, problems can arise if not installed properly during construction and the home was suffering from leaks due to poorly consolidated concrete within the walls. During construction, these specially designed walls provide insulation with concrete filling the hollow cavities. However, whenever concrete is poured it requires vibration to ensure it is properly consolidated. The walls in this home did not contain properly consolidated concrete and thus were leaking.
Powerful Polymer
After conducting a thorough inspection, the crew from Ace Dragon found issues with the membrane around the perimeter of the house and proposed injecting Alchemy-Spetec’s Spetec PUR Highfoamer into the walls to make up for the weakly consolidated concrete and seal the leaks. This durable polyurethane was perfect for this job due to its low cost and high expansion rate.
Painless Procedure
The job only required a small three-man crew and some light equipment. Starting their injection procedure from the bottom, the crew worked all the way around and up the entire basement wall to ensure all affected areas were sealed. The homeowner’s only other effective alternative would have been to excavate around the entire perimeter of the home and completely redo the membrane (something they wanted to avoid due to the high costs).
Rapid Result
The injection process took a fraction of the time a full membrane replacement would have taken. The homeowner was thrilled to have the leaks sealed and the basement walls fortified.