Alchatek Blog

On this episode of The Injection Connection, Charlie Lerman takes over the hosting duties, welcoming 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).

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

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

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High-performance polyurethane concrete repair equipment is essential to the success of any contractor in this industry.  For that reason, I'd like to bring the Section 179 tax break to your attention.  According the Section179.org website...

Essentially, Section 179 of the IRS tax code allows businesses to deduct the full purchase price of qualifying equipment and/or software purchased or financed during the tax year. That means that if you buy (or lease) a piece of qualifying equipment, you can deduct the FULL PURCHASE PRICE from your gross income. It’s an incentive created by the U.S. government to encourage businesses to buy equipment and invest in themselves.  Read more at Section179.org.

Chris Fletcher's article, How much money can Section 179 save contractors on 2020 equipment purchases? from EquipmentWorld.com provides these essential details...

What equipment qualifies?
Almost all tangible business equipment qualifies: production machines and related equipment; office machines and furniture; computers and common software; safety equipment; most signage; business vehicles in excess of 6,000 pounds gross vehicle weight (including heavy equipment); and more.

Note: If you needed to buy equipment to modify your workspace for COVID-19, such as plexiglass dividers, air filtration systems, sanitizing stations, new servers for work-at-home people, etc., it’s very likely they are Section 179 eligible, which is great news. As always, ask your accountant for the final word.

How much money can Section 179 save me in 2020?
It depends on the cost of the equipment you purchase, and ultimately, your tax rate. But let’s say you buy $50,000 worth of equipment. With Section 179, you can deduct the entire $50,000 from your taxable income. At a 35 percent tax rate, that would result in a net tax savings of $17,500.  Read more at EquipmentWorld.com.

If you're currently considering an equipment purchase, you may want to buy before the end of 2020 so you can take advantage of the deduction on this year's tax return.  

Alchemy-Spetec offers a full selection of:

• Slab Lifting Pumps & Guns
• Custom Slab Lifting Rigs & Trailers
• Electric Injection Pumps
• Seawall Repair & Soil Stabilization Pumps
• Soil Testing Equipment

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This article is an excerpt from Episode 9 of Alchemy-Spetec's podcast The Injection Connection, featuring Charlie Lerman "The Grout Geek". Charlie is Director of Technical Services - Leak Seal® Division at Alchemy-Spetec. The Injection Connection is hosted by Jim Spiegel: Vice President of Alchemy-Spetec and Board Member at the International Concrete Repair Institute. (If you'd rather listen, an audio version of this excerpt is posted at the bottom of the article.)

Jim Spiegel: I always say to people is you should account for some exploration time. Everybody wants to go quick into, "What are the coverage rates, how many linear feet can I do in a day, how many people do I need, what’s the size of the crew, how many man hours as a prevailing wage." But I like to tell people let’s put half a day, even up to a full day depending on the job, into exploration. Would you agree with that?

Charlie Lerman: 100%. Exploratory grouting is the way to go. And on smaller jobs a lot of times, that’s going to knock out the whole job anyway. But when you get to those larger jobs for curtain grouting and crack injection, just having that day to look at and say, “These are the parameters. We think we’re going to be between this and this mark and by this procedure.” You go out there and you find - well, did I fall in that, where did I fall in that and if so, how are we going to adjust out the rest of the job now that we know some specifics there? But until you get out there, it’s really all theory. I’m in tons of meetings where there’s all this theory crafting and people talk about this stuff. And while this theory crafting is great and we need to do it to wrap our heads around the situation, it comes down to it when you’re actually injecting, you don’t have precise control over your liquid, you don’t know exactly where it went. You can only see the result and make assumptions. Whatever I pictured in my mind is what I can say happened in there, but until we rip that open, which almost never happens, you don’t know exactly how it went inside. So again, all that theory and stuff, that’s all great to talk about. But until you put the wheels on the road and see what happens, you just don’t know. I’ve seen stuff where you just start scratching your head - how could this be going that way? But it does and you figure it out and work through it.

Listen to the audio version of this excerpt...

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Single-Component Geotech Pump Skid

The PolyShark is a custom pump skid system for installation of single-component polyurethane geotech resins. This world-class skid set up is essential for large scale seawall repair, soil stabilization, and void fill projects.

The PolyShark includes a gas-powered high-pressure injection pump, two hose reels, and flow meters.

Gas-Powered High-Pressure Injection Pump

A step up for projects that require greater power and output, this custom modified pump is our best-selling gas over hydraulic piston machine, favored by contractors who want to complete large application jobs in record time with high profit margins. The hydraulic ram fluid section is moved front and center in the configuration for easier maintenance and control.

High-Pressure Hose Reels with Stainless Steel Ball Bearings

High-pressure design guarantees durability when used with the high-pressure single-component pump. The construction is completely corrosion resistant and the stainless steel ball bearings, hardware, and manifolds are stronger than the aluminum parts on standard hose reels. The ball bearing-driven hose reels operate smoothly because they contain no bushings. (Bushings easily wear out.)

Flow Meters

Two high-pressure flow meters are capable of recording the exact amount of product pushed through the hoselines. This allows for precision material-use tracking.

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This post is part of the Alchemy-Spetec Contractor Lens series, featuring views, news & case studies written by our customers.  This article, originally posted on the Dalinghaus Construction Blog, explains the basics of polyurethane concrete leveling.  If you're an Alchemy-Spetec customer and you'd like to discuss writing content for our blog, please send an email to marketing@alchemy-spetec.com today!

Lifting concrete with polyurethane is a process that takes a lot of simple physics into play.  The amount of recovery that you are able to get out of a slab of concrete is dependent on a lot of underlying factors.  Not only does the amount of area that is needing to be recovered play a role, but also the construction of the slab plays a massive role in what can actually be recovered.  Let's dive into how the process actually can lift a sunken slab of concrete.

When you are looking at a sunken piece of concrete you first have to envision of how this slab of concrete will react once you start the lifting process.  Once you do so, you can then figure out where you are going to perform you first injection.  We will then inject polyurethane through a drilled hole until we start to see movement out of the slab.  We continue drilling and injecting until the slab has been set back into place as it was when it was initially poured.

When the polyurethane is first injected through the slab it will typically fill any voids or cavities that are under the slab.  Once these have been filled the polyurethane will start to compact the soil that the slab was resting on.  It will continue to compact the soil until it gets to a point where the soil starts to become solid and the slab begins to lift.  The polyurethane will continue to compact the soil and lift the slab until the slab has been leveled to the desired elevation.  

It is a simple process if you think about it.  It is easier for the polyurethane to lift the concrete and its weight than to push and compact the soil further into the earth.  Although some looser soil requires more polyurethane to be injected, it will still eventually get to the point at which it is easier to lift the slab than to continue to push the soils downward.

Here are the steps simplified:

1. Analyze the area to be lifted
2. Drill a hole through the slab
3. Install a polyurethane gun
4. Begin injecting polyurethane material
5. Monitor slab movement 
6. Stop injection once recovery has been attained
7. Remove gun and port
8. Grout hole

Click here for more information on Dalinghaus Construction.

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As the Inside Sales Manager for Alchemy-Spetec, I am responsible for keeping our lead, customer, and project data in order.  Our busy sales and marketing team needs to access this information quickly and accurately.  Precise, contextual, and quick accessibility of these systems gives our team a powerful, painless, and rapid advantage over our competitors that are stuck using outdated technology and processes.

We can organize all of our leads, customers, and potential projects by using some type of Customer Relationship Management software. In fact, we are currently using two separate CRM software programs for our sales department. Our main customer database is stored in Salesforce.  The entire team has access to this platform and can log in regularly for up-to-date customer information, sales numbers, etc.

In order to keep our Salesforce database lean and relevant, our inside sales efforts are conducted within the fast and efficient Salesmate CRM to track opportunities as they develop.  Salesforce can be extremely powerful for larger organizations who require limitless customization and reporting, while Salesmate is an excellent intuitive and lightweight CRM for organizations with a smaller budget.  Contractors looking for a CRM may also want to consider the Alchemy-Spetec custom version of Estimate Rocket. Estimate Rocket is a multi-purpose tool for creating job estimates, calculating material needs, generating financial reports, tracking customers/projects, and more!  The Alchemy-Spetec customized version of Estimate Rocket features our geotech material estimation calculators built in.  Read more here.

These are just a few of the many CRMs on the market. We strongly encourage you to do your own research and choose the CRM that best suits your business needs. If you have any further questions on the subject, feel free to call Alchemy-Spetec at 404-618-0438 and ask for the Inside Sales Manager, David Park. We offer a unique understanding of proven and innovative CRM solutions that can optimize your sales efforts moving forward.

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This article is an excerpt from Episode 9 of Alchemy-Spetec's podcast The Injection Connection, featuring Charlie Lerman "The Grout Geek". Charlie is Director of Technical Services - Leak Seal® Division at Alchemy-Spetec. The Injection Connection is hosted by Jim Spiegel: Vice President of Alchemy-Spetec and Board Member at the International Concrete Repair Institute. (If you'd rather listen, an audio version of this excerpt is posted at the bottom of the article.)

Jim Spiegel: What’s some of your favorite equipment to work with? Favorite pumping systems?

Charlie Lerman: I’ve always been a fan of the airless paint sprayers (a.k.a. modified electric injection pumps). They’re just a good workhorse and have been the industry standard. So I like those and that’s what I used most of my career. I’m dealing a lot more now with acrylate type products. And I do really like the pumps that we use for those, the plural component stainless steel pumps. Finally, I’ve seen some that are not difficult to use, which is nice to find one that’s easy. It’s still a complex machine but it’s broken down and very easy. I’d say that’s one of them that’s coming up right now. But still, it’s hard to just go away from that old reliable Graco or a Titan 440.

Jim: Yeah, for sure. It’s pretty much the status quo out there.

Charlie: But Jim, let me add - to jump on the other side of that, and we offer these pumps, it’s not like I’m badmouthing a competitor or something like that but there’s the drill pumps. And while they have their place these little drill pumps, I believe that they actually are hard for contractors because a lot of the people that look at getting the drill pumps are first-time grout users and they’re trying to save some money. So they’re getting a drill pump rather than an airless paint sprayer to save a couple hundred dollars there. The problem is that using that drill pump takes a little more technical expertise. So if it’s your first job, that’s not always the good pump to cut your teeth on. It’s got it’s good position and stuff like that and it’s light and it’s easy to move around but it does take a little more skill. That’s one of the pumps just kind of to watch out for.

Jim: Yeah, as you and I have been pretty open about, not everybody has the same experience with different equipment. You’ve pumped a lot more grout than probably all of us, but I have quite a bit of experience with the drill pumps. I agree with you. Probably the benefit that I see is that they’re easy to take apart. So, when there are issues with it, which can happen to any pump that you’re pumping chemical grouts with, you’re looking at seven Allen screws and you’re into the ball and spring assembly - so you’re pretty much in the guts of it with seven screws. That’s the only thing that I really like about it just from a maintenance standpoint. I agree completely that if you’re doing this a lot, you’re probably not doing yourself justice with it. Especially if you’re getting into higher volume sort of stuff. I mean, for any curtain or soil grouting it’s just not relevant. And you’re mixing a lot. You’re mixing small volumes all the time. As you know from being on site, especially on large volume applications, keeping product mixed can be a huge functional manpower issue. Because you just don’t account for all the time needed for having that guy keeping things mixed. I see the pros and cons for it. But it’s well noted that you’re not a huge fan.

Charlie: No and it’s still a great product. There is a niche for it though. And really that’s my main concern. And I think also that comes from my history because often times I’m either on giant projects and that’s where they’re demanding to have that customer service out there. And they’re not even looking at these pumps because, like you said, they’re just not high volume. And then the other times where I’m training people is a lot of times when they’re brand new. And it’s just not a great pump for someone brand new. But it’s light, it’s easy to maneuver and that is an advantage a lot of times when you’re just setting up and if you’re doing a residential area or you’re doing something small or you’re doing something that’s off the beaten path and you don’t want to have to carry a whole bunch of equipment.

Listen to the audio version of this excerpt...

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We understand that chemical grouting is often not the primary focus of a construction or repair job, but a water leak can often bring the rest of the job to a screeching halt until it is sealed. Job costs then start to pile up, production or facility services stay shut down as time drags on, sometimes tempers begin to flare. Sound familiar?

It’s not an exaggeration to state that Alchemy-Spetec has the most experienced and responsive technical support squad in the industry. In the spirit of the famous postal service motto, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds”, our approach is somewhat along the lines of, “Neither weekends nor evening hours nor holidays…”. In other words we strive, to the best of our ability, to be there for you when YOU need us.

For example, Alchemy-Spetec has provided technical support for critical infrastructure jobs over Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. While on-site technical service response is based on availability and job circumstances, we have a track record of being there when it counts. In the chemical grouting industry, almost all other manufacturers have moved away from dedicated fulltime support personnel. We stand alone to help you when YOU need it.

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I often get asked about pre-drilling for crack injection. Pre-drilling is the practice of putting all the ports in position before injecting anything. This preparation procedure can often be very time efficient. Think of this an assembly line approach. Pre-drilling is often done when there is “shut-down” period on a job with a limited time to get the work done. You’ll encounter these types of jobs in subway systems, for example, when the work needs to be done while the trains aren’t running. That’s just one specific example, but you get the idea.

Drilling and injecting one hole at a time, on the other hand, allows you to follow the path of the water as you start to seal the leak. Here is how I described the process in my blog post Port Spacing and Location, “I start from the bottom, work my port, and then observe how far the grout travels. I then place next port to pick up where the grout left off.” With the drilling as you go approach, you usually end up with less holes and a more complete seal.

To pre-drill or not to pre-drill? That is the question. As you can see, the answer depends on the circumstances.

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Port spacing in the case of crack injection has nothing to do with the distance between a port in Miami and a port in Jamaica. In this case, we are simply discussing how far apart to place your injection ports. This is not a fixed distance, as proper port spacing varies depending on site conditions.

For estimating, 1’ on center is the standard and will cover you pretty well with the exception of hairline cracks. Typically, the tighter the cracks the closer the spacing.

I am not a big fan of predrilling the ports as you never know when you are going to hit that sweet spot and get 3’-6’ of travel. Or on the other hand when you have numerous dead holes or very little grout travel. So I start from the bottom, work my port, and then observe how far the grout travels. I then place next port to pick up where the grout left off.

I see predrilling done on shutdown jobs where time is of the essence. This may lead to some extra holes and wasted ports but can speed up the injection process. If it is not shutdown work, I prefer to be more methodical and drill as I go.

Lastly, whenever possible, stitch grout. This is the practice of alternating the sides of the crack to install your port. This helps prevent cracking and spalling of the concrete.

Crack injection is a thoughtful and methodical practice which is not for the impatient.

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