Alchatek Blog

I'd like to share a case study from a recent job that I consulted on with one of our contractor customers, ETRU Spray Foam and Coatings and Coatings in Southern Illinois.

A 25’ x 40’ residential pole barn in Carbondale, Illinois was built on a 6” floating concrete slab on grade. The concrete was poured into four 10’x 25’ sections. Each section had multiple cracks and breaks throughout, and in some cases, the broken sections had a drop of up to 3”. During the inspection, it was discovered that the pole barn 4 corner beams were driven into the ground and the concrete poured around them. The front of the property was pitched towards the pole barn and it showed no signs of ever having gutters and downspouts attached. After drilling an injection hole, we inserted a probe to check the depth of the void and the stability of the ground. In some areas the void was 6” and the probe was hand driven to a depth of 3’ before hitting hard ground. ETRU Spray Foam and Coatings was hired to stabilize the ground and level as much of the concrete as they could. The homeowner plans to utilize the space as a game room.

Powerful Polymer

Among the most dependable products for geotech applications, AP Lift 430 structural foam provides an exceptional DOT grade solution for these types of situations. This 3 lb. density, high-strength, hydro-insensitive structural polyurethane foam is perfect for densifying soil and lifting concrete slabs.

Painless Procedure

The ETru crew and I walked the project with both property owners. We pointed out how waterlogged the ground was and that they needed to add gutters and downspouts, as well as pitch the ground water away from the pole barn. We also talked about possible blowout from under the slab during the injection process and how to handle it. I worked with ETRU to draw up a plan, indicating exactly where the injection points would be located (knowing that the plan might change due to the ground moisture and the number of voids to be filled). All injections were completed from inside the pole barn with a crew member on the outside to alert us when product broke through the ground. First, we injected in the back corner which had the 3” drop. The plan was to establish a base slab height on the side with the most soil problems and then level everything else to that slab. Spacing between injection points was approximately 3-4 feet, with 38 total injection locations.

Rapid Result

The ETRU Spray Foam and Coatings crew achieved a three-inch lift and was able to bring all the other slabs within 1/8” from the adjoining slab. The customer was extremely happy with the results.

Video Footage

Want more info on lifting slabs with polyurethane?

Today’s guest blogger is John Ziebell, an independent representative of Alchemy-Spetec. 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).

Recently, I visited a homeowner in Elkhart, Texas whose basement flooded after a heavy rainstorm. The house was three years old, and this was the first time water had entered the home. When we went into the basement, I saw that a water-repellent coating was applied to the below-grade walls during initial construction, but it was unclear if a water stop had been installed at the wall joint.

To test for the leak source, I suggested installing soaker hoses in the flower beds adjacent to the basement wall, flooding the beds for several hours, and confirming if water appears at the wall or floor joints. I also recommended two different options to prevent further leaks:

Option 1 – Polyurethane Crack Injection

If the cracks in the basement walls can be clearly identified and there aren’t too many of them, the contractor should use the polyurethane crack injection procedure. First, they’ll need to remove any surface contamination with a grinder. Then, they can drill holes spaced about 1 foot apart at a 45° angle to intersect the middle of the crack or joint and flush all of the injection holes with clean water until water runs from hole to hole. Once the water flow is confirmed, they can inject the crack or joint with Spetec PUR F400 (and GEN ACC Accelerator) until it’s completely full.

Option 2 – Polyurethane Curtain Wall Grouting

If cracks in the basement walls are difficult to identify the contractor should use the polyurethane curtain wall grouting procedure. First, they’ll need to remove any surface contamination with a grinder and drill holes in a diamond grid pattern (see photo included with this post). Then, beginning at the bottom of the wall, they can inject the holes with Spetec PUR H100 (and GEN ACC Accelerator) until they reach the top of the wall.

Many people ask if grouting only around the bottom next to the leaks is effective, but this is seldom the case. Grout is injected through the entire wall because any excess grout flows down over the previous injection area, creating a lapping effect like shingles on a roof.

Both options have their advantages depending on the situation: polyurethane crack injection is a cost-effective, pinpoint approach that is ideal for a small number of clearly identifiable cracks, while curtain wall grouting is a pricier approach that is ideal for a larger number of difficult to identify cracks.

Want more information on choosing the right leak seal products and application for your project?

This article is an excerpt from Episode 5 of Alchemy-Spetec's podcast The Injection Connection, featuring JR Crowell and Morgan Helms of Helms Polyfoam. 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 exchange is posted at the bottom of the article.)

Jim Spiegel: Do you guys do quite a bit of engineer outreach?

JR Crowell: Yeah. That’s probably where I spend the majority of my time. I love engineers because they love to learn. They're extremely open to us coming in and talking about what we do because it is exciting stuff. It's a neat process, with neat products and you're solving some huge issues. I love talking to them because they ask a lot of questions. For us, as a company going after innovative repair projects, it certainly helps when we can pick the brain of a hundred engineers a year or better and make sure that we're doing everything that we need for them to spec a project.

Jim: Is that one of the metrics that you look at as far as your sales KPIs? Along with the number of calls, average ticket price, close rate, do you also look at engineer presentations?

JR: Yeah. At the end of the year, we'll break down where our revenue came from and we certainly measure the engineering piece. You'll have some projects that are right there and you'll have a lot of them that come maybe a year, two years down the road. They just don't need you till they need you. But then, when they do, they remember the company that came in and tried to educate them a little bit and stayed in touch with them.

Jim: Yeah, you nailed it. I think the end game with the engineer effort really is two, three, even longer years out sometimes.

JR: I think it takes a while just like when a new contractor starts out, he has to figure out what all he could do with polyurethane. And so, these engineers are the same way. We get a lot of calls for the first month or two just testing, “Hey, is this a good opportunity? What do you think about this? Come look at that.” Then when you finally get a product or process that's "ginning" if you will, they already know what to call you in on, so they’re not wasting your time either. But we've got some that we work with so much now, they'll call us and say, “We're thinking about doing this. Is there anything you have that would be better? If so, I'd love to hear about it.” They've kind of started calling us pre-job, pre-spec, pre-bid.

Jim: That's the table you want to be at.

JR: That's right.

Want more information on Alchemy-Spetec products?

This article is an excerpt from Episode 5 of Alchemy-Spetec's podcast The Injection Connection, featuring JR Crowell and Morgan Helms of Helms Polyfoam. 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 exchange is posted at the bottom of the article.)

Jim Spiegel: How do you go about your sales effort? Do you have people that are specific to just selling or are all your salespeople both technicians and sales professionals? How does that work?

J.R. Crowell: No, we have it divided up, we're very aggressive on the sales. We say all the time we're an outbound company not an inbound company because we are new. A lot of what we're doing, there's just not a lot of people searching for. So, a lot of it is an education piece. You certainly understand that as Alchemy-Spetec is a progressive company and you spend a lot of time educating us and our customers on what you do. And so, we do the same thing. So yeah, from a team standpoint, we do have a business development side, a sales side and we have a technician side. But everybody is cross-trained. When I came on board, I started on the rig with Morgan and we worked every day together. Then once we got somebody to replace me, I moved on and started handling more the operations and the sales and financial piece of the company. That's how we work. If you can train somebody to do what you do, you get to move up. Congratulations!

Morgan Helms: If you can't do the work, you can't sell it either.

Jim: If you need a large number of sales, obviously it can be pretty daunting to some of the sales team. They have these big goals and there's a fine line of discouragement so to speak with setting a goal too high and pushing for the optimal results.

JR: I'm really big on measuring what we're doing at the end of the month. So if we know that if we want to close X amount of business, I need to make X amount of sales. But to get those sales I've got to get X amount of appointments. So I have to make X amount of calls to get those appointments. When you reverse engineer back from that, and you’re able to teach your sales team that way of doing it, it doesn't seem as daunting.

Jim: Talking through the process and how you got to that number. Again, it goes back to planning.

JR: That's right. Hope is not a plan.

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You aren’t taking a break from the economy, and neither are we. Alchemy-Spetec is operating at full capacity. As usual, we have plenty of inventory of both finished goods and raw materials. We are in constant contact with our suppliers and at this time we don’t foresee any supply chain disruptions. If anything changes, I will let you know.

While we are operating at 100% capacity, we are also mindful of our civic duty to help “flatten the infection curve” of the virus. We are practicing social distancing at work. We are wiping down door handles, faucets, and other high touch areas with bleach twice a day. We have cancelled all unnecessary travel and face to face meetings. Over half of our team is working from home.

So, while we are doing our part to stop the spread of the virus, we have decided not to participate in any sort of economic slowdown. We will do our part to keep America healthy – both physically healthy and financially healthy.

I understand that your organization may have changing needs in the following weeks. Please let us know what we can do to serve you better. As usual, we are here to help at 404-618-0438.

Sincerely,

Stephen Barton
CEO - Alchemy-Spetec

JR Crowell and Morgan Helms of Helms Polyfoam are the guests on Episode 5 of The Injection Connection. In this episode, host Jim Spiegel discusses the history of the Helms business, the future of customer support, and the importance of relationships. (Jim Spiegel is Vice President of Alchemy-Spetec and a Board Member at the International Concrete Repair Institute.)

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

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

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As Alchemy-Spetec's Northeast Regional Geotech Lead, I am the point-person for contractors and property managers in this area of the country.  I also represent the NJ coastal, oceans, ports, and river engineers through the NJ COPRI, the Institute arm of The American Society of Civil Engineers. COPRI is responsible for evaluating data on ports, providing them with report cards on inefficiencies, and making recommendations for improvements. COPRI members also meet with leadership in Washington DC to give expert testimony on how funding should be appropriated for sustainability of US coastal areas, ports, and rivers.

I have developed feasible procedures for seawall remediation using polymer grouts, and have consulted with engineers and contractors to develop the standards for polymer seawall repairs. These standards are used throughout the US, and I regularly give presentations on them at engineering lectures and conferences.

In this blog post, I provide a simple introductory overview of seawall issues in the Northeastern United States.

Tony Alfano
Mech. Eng., A.M. ASCE  | Chair ASCE NJ COPRI (Coastal, Oceans, Ports, and Rivers Institute)

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Seawall Repair in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia

Many Seawalls along the northeastern United States are in a state of disrepair, for a wide variety of reasons. Rising water levels, corrosion, seasonal freeze/thaw cycles, storms and extreme weather events all contribute to seawall deterioration over time. Properly built seawalls include a drainage system to handle the daily influx and outflow of water from rain, tides and waves. Over time, these drainage systems can sometimes become clogged. Seawalls without an effective built-in drainage system face a unique problem in that the water has no way to escape except to force its way down and out from underneath the base of the wall. When this occurs, sinkholes will appear alongside the wall.

Seawall Repair Options

Property owners facing seawall deterioration have a few options:

• Do Nothing
  The problem with this option is obvious: longer you wait, the more expensive the eventual repair.
  
  
• Replace the Seawall
  Rebuilding a seawall (or even a section of a seawall) can be messy, time consuming and expensive.
  
  
• Repair with Cement Grout
  Cement grout seawall repair requires heavy equipment, large drill holes and the use of weighty cement grout which may sink over time.
  
  
• Repair with Polymer Foam
  The polyurethane seawall repair process is accomplished with small mobile equipment, durable material that doesn’t sink, and small drill holes. This procedure makes less of a mess than replacing the seawall or repairing with cement grout.

Alchemy-Spetec structural foams are stronger than crystalline bedrock. Combined with proper drainage, polyurethane seawall repair can greatly extend the life of the structure.

Environmentally Safe

Alchemy-Spetec polyurethane seawall repair resin products have received the official NSF seal of approval for contact with drinking water (this also protects water-dwelling wildlife as well). This designation ensures compliance with the Safe Water Drinking Act (SDWA) and guarantees peace of mind for in-the-field stakeholders on construction projects of almost any scope and size.

Want more technical information on Seawall Repair?

This article is an excerpt from Episode 4 of The Injection Connection, featuring Adam Tracy of A-1 Foundation Crack Repair. 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 exchange is posted at the bottom of the article.)

Jim: Where do we find talent? That’s a big thing in our world especially being so niche of an application. How do you find talent? One of the things that we like to look at is, getting somebody with an engineering mind, such as yourself - engineering or architectural mind that just knows buildings and knows the X’s and O’s of the construction world and just get them on site, just to learn. We think that could be the one-two punch to really get good, competent people out there. You’re a perfect example of it. You come in with a very high level of understanding of the construction world and building in general and then couple that with some field training and you’re pretty lethal as far as your effectiveness in the field.

To that point, how long do you think it takes? Say somebody coming out of college: I have a bachelor’s in engineering, maybe I don’t want to work in an engineering firm, maybe I want to get into the sales side with the manufacturer building products. How long do you think it takes in field time with chemical grouting until you’re up and running and you really know the nuances of a lot of what happens out there?

Adam: That’s a tough question. I’ve used myself as a little bit of an example because while I’d been around it for a while because I had gone my own path for a period of time right out of school, it was kind of just there and didn’t really know much about it. Doing it every day, it was a good with my educational background being an engineer in the civil engineering space.  Knowing building and construction, it took me a good two, three months of every day (hands-on application to really understand the limitations, the successes, how it works, why it works, which product is going to be most successful, in which application) until I was comfortable being able to see the solution before I even put a drill to a wall. The fortunate thing is that I was able to rely on years of construction experience and being in these green builds whereas somebody who might be right out of school has never been on a site, has never thrown on the hardhat and the vest and walked around. So there’s a whole learning curve to that as well. But again, the field experience I think is critical in any industry. Especially as you get into more and more isolated niche industries, your opportunity to learn is few and far between on a study level. The field experience becomes your classroom.

When we bring people on, talking about finding good people, if we find somebody who has any experience in injection grouting, it’s a diamond, it’s a needle in a haystack so to speak. There’s a significant training curve on our end to bring talented people who have this construction experience to a level of being able to be proficient in the trade.

It’s a tough thing because everyone’s individual but the more time in the field, I think, is critical because, again, if you happened to be taught it in some educational level, it was a leap on the radar and it was quickly moved past as part of envelope education study whereas the actual time in the field really becomes your classroom, like I said.

Jim: Absolutely. It’s your point though or kind of to the point, two or three months was effectively your gut, visceral reaction there to time in the field. Compared to some other industries, that’s not all that long.

Adam: No but that was an everyday obligation.

Jim: Exactly. You take like a manufacturer rep for instance who might be on site once a month for a few hours to add that time up to be two months, constant trained would take years to become that well-versed.

Adam: In like anything. I’ve lived in that sales role as a manufacturer sales rep and while you may know the spec sheet of your product inside and out, that doesn’t tell you the whole story of the product that you’re going to use. It’s when it’s applied in the field whether it’s a pump or a truck or a crane or chemical grouting, it’s the performance in the real world beyond the spec sheet that tells you or completes a picture of your education on the product.

For those who are on the manufacturing side, the time in that field, actually doing the work I think is one of the most critical parts of it.

Jim: For sure. We liken it to a mechanic who can listen to an engine and give you a pretty good of what he’s up against. Very similar in the field, Charlie, who I mentioned, I think he’s been in the field services role for 15, 16 years as well and he can tell you what’s happening by the way the hose is jumping for instance on each stroke, and the sound of the stroke for instance. There’s a lot of that mechanic level field support that just isn’t that readily available in the chemical grouting world. We put Charlie in the field services director role because, and this is not intended to go into a sales pitch but just to your point that a lot of manufacturers are kind of shying away from the field support where you have to be out there seeing so many customers and making so many calls and it’s like a telemarketing solution sometimes for an industry that is so critical for accuracy in the field.

I agree with you completely. We actually tell our guys, you said you had experience on the sales side of it from manufacturer, and we tell all of our guys and girls – get in the field and spend time with the contractors. I still go out in the field. I was just on a job a couple of Fridays ago, we were doing polyacrylate gel injection. I was on the gun and I was saying to the technicians – you guys tell me, instruct me a little bit what you see out here because a couple of people who were out there had significant experience.

To your exact point, manufacturers can read spec sheets and tell you little nuances of performance from TDS but until you know what the gun feels like, the guys in the field are still probably head and shoulders above you.

Adam: Yeah, for sure. And it’s always tough to be in that role where you’re supposed to be the expert and asking for help. I’ve been in those situations, it’s always uncomfortable as being on the manufacturer side to say, "okay, what would you guys do here?"...you know, being the guy with 30 years of experience.

Want more information on leak seal methodology?

This article is an excerpt from Episode 4 of The Injection Connection, featuring Adam Tracy of A-1 Foundation Crack Repair. 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 exchange is posted at the bottom of the article.)

Jim: In a more general sense with the chemical grouting industry, what do you think, and I may be putting you on the spot here a little bit, but what do you think is lacking or what could be improved in the industry? Do you have opinions on that? Maybe from a product standpoint, maybe from a service standpoint, from the manufacturer’s side? Do you have any thoughts on that?

Adam: I’ve had a pretty unique entry into this industry because I’m from totally outside of the industry. Even though this is a family business, I actually spent the first ten plus years of my career as a manufacturer rep in the fire protection space. So, I’m coming at this industry as a very different set of eyes. I’m actually an engineer in civil engineering and I would definitely say that it’s a niche industry in a lot of ways, which prevents its usage I think because I don’t think it’s well taught on an educational level and I don’t think the awareness is very high amongst a lot of engineering firms as well. 

It’s a process that is unique in a lot of ways but it’s not revolutionary. I think while it’s one tool in the tool belt as we discussed, I think having that in an engineer’s hands is very important because a lot of times solutions that are tried more often or may have a higher success rate on the positive side are just cost prohibitive. And the building is not set up to be able to do that kind of stuff post construction and where chemical grouting is really just the best, most cost-effective, high result solution for that particular application.

I would definitely say that on a commercial level the grouting process needs to have a little bit higher expansion in educational areas to make sure that kids coming out of schools and going in for their PEs and trying to get their feet under them and provide solutions to their clients know that this is a proper solution that is tried and true and is very successful.

In my world, where it’s a lot of residential, that’s half of what my job is on a day to day conversation with a customer is explaining what we’re doing because it’s a lot of black magic in their eyes because it’s something totally different. They were looking for the black spray in the can that you used to spray in the bottom of your screen door boat there, off the shelf as a solution and they‘re trying to figure out why it didn’t work. And really, we’re trying to just educate them a little bit as well.

We’ve had projects in the past where they’ve spent a tremendous amount of time on the specifications and the procedures on how to address an issue. We had a project at a wastewater treatment plant where it’s 24-inch walls, thick walls with rebar everywhere, and they were tall. And they’re just trying, there’s not a lot of experience, there wasn’t a lot of manufacturer help in terms of how to really identify the process to do this successfully. So, when we get in there and we look at the specifications, it’s hobbled together by somebody who’s never seen this process in the real world. It was essentially set up for failure in a lot of ways because the process was wrong for this particular application, and trying to go through change orders of the process was a very difficult situation - just because we knew as a contractor doing it for as long as we have that the amount of time and effort that they were going to be focused on their particular process was going to be set up incorrectly and set up for failure mostly because, again, they had a set of people on this thing who have read about it and were very unaware of the infield techniques that are required to be successful in it, and really just tried to be by the book on it without any sort of experience.

I think that in the industry, there would be a huge benefit across the board in my eyes to really start at the educational level, civil engineering programs, construction management programs, to really focus on that. I think manufacturers have some responsibility as well as contractors to give a two-pronged approach so that people are educated both on the technology itself and the actual application and how it gets done.

Jim: I couldn’t agree more.

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I'd like to share a case study from a recent job that I consulted on with one of our contractor customers.

A two-story residential house in North Carolina was built on poorly compacted fill dirt. After about 20 years, it began showing evidence of settling. Interior cracks appeared in the sheetrock and some of the floors were no longer level (indicating that the footings were slowly sinking). These symptoms of unstable soil were caused by about 1 inch of settling. The engineer on the project determined that the problem was not severe enough to require helical piers. The contractor was called in to stop the sinking and reinforce the soil via deep soil polyurethane injection.

Powerful Polymer

Among the most dependable products for geotech applications, AP Lift 440 structural foam provides an exceptional DOT grade solution for these types of situations. This 4 lb. density, high-strength, hydro-insensitive structural polyurethane foam is perfect for densifying soil and stabilizing foundations (as well as lifting).

Painless Procedure

I worked with the contractor to draw up a plan, indicating exactly where the injection points would be located. The engineer reviewed the plan for feasibility. The contractor installed 18 injection tubes to a depth of 7 feet. 50 lbs of foam were administered through each tube, split between two different depths: 7 feet and 3.5 feet below grade. First, they injected from outside the house, installing foam beneath the exterior footings. Next, they injected from inside the house, installing foam beneath the load bearing interior walls. Spacing between injection points was approximately 5 feet.

Rapid Result

The deep soil stabilization process densified the soil and stopped the settlement. In addition, the contractors achieved a half inch lift from the exterior injections and another half inch lift from the interior injection sequence. The customer was extremely happy with the results. The engineer was impressed as well and said he would recommend this procedure in similar future scenarios.

Want more information on soil stabilization?