Alchatek Blog

Get ready for a thorough education in polyurethane slab lift/soil stabilization geotech products and applications on Friday, March 15th (March 14th is leak seal day), 2019 at Alchemy-Spetec HQ in Tucker, GA. You’ll get hands-on training from a technical staff with decades of on-the-job experience. Registration includes both days, but we’ll take a close look at the geotech curriculum in today’s blog post…

The schedule on Friday, March 15th includes education on the Alchemy-Spetec geotech product line, soil stabilization, slab lifting, the Deep Lift™ process, rig & mobile lifting systems, geotech accessories, soil testing (ground penetrating radar, penetrometer), pricing and estimating. There will also be live geotech demos, product mixing demos, and open discussions for sharing job related tips and solutions from the field.

Your instructors have years of experience providing technical support for contractors across the country. You can look forward to presentations, demos and/or discussions lead by Stephen C. Barton (President/CEO), Jim Spiegel (VP Sales & Business Development), Andy Powell (Southeastern Regional Manager), Anthony Sandone (Eastern Regional Manager), and Charlie Lerman (Western Regional Manager). 

Participants will receive a Samsung tablet loaded with leak seal training material.

The registration deadline is February 28th.

Sign up while there's still space available...

Leak Seal & Geotech Products & Procedures

March 14 & 15, 2019 at Alchemy-Spetec HQ in Tucker, GA

See live product mixing demos!

Get a thorough education in Leak Seal, Slab Lifting, Soil Stabilization and the Alchemy-Spetec Deep Lift™ process. You’ll also get hands-on training from a technical staff with decades of on-the-job experience.

Thursday - Leak Seal

• Leak Seal Product Line Overview
• Curtain Grouting
• Permeation Grouting
• Leak-Seal Product Mixing
• Pump & Packer Overviews
• Leak-Seal Accessories
• Municipal Applications
• Live Injection Demos
• Open Discussions

Friday - Geotech

• Geotech Product Line Overview
• Soil Stabilization
• Geotech Product Mixing
• Rig & Mobile System Overviews
• Geotechnical Accessories
• Slab Lifting Live Demo
• Deep Lift™ Overview
• Soil Testing with the
• GPR & Penetrometer
• Maintenance Discussions
• Pricing / Estimating / Cost Savings
• Open Discussions

Participants receive a Samsung tablet loaded with training material.

Your Instructors:

Stephen C. Barton (President/CEO), Jim Spiegel (VP Sales & Business Development), Andy Powell (Southeastern Regional Manager), Anthony Sandone (Eastern Regional Manager), and Charlie Lerman (Western Regional Manager). Each instructor is a seasoned professional with at least a decade of experience in the industry.  

Leak seal product distributor Sunshine Supply, headquartered in California, hosted a well-attended Alchemy-Spetec Grout Lab today for local contractors in the Anaheim area. The curriculum included…

Classroom Polyurethane Leak Seal Training

• Safety Considerations for Polyurethane Leak Seal Work
• Crack Injection Products and Application Procedures
• Curtain Grouting Products and Application Procedures

Live Polyurethane Leak Seal Demos

• Concrete Crack Injection
• Curtain Grouting
• Pump Startup and Maintenance

Watch this brief clip (from a demo at the grout lab) of a crack cross section showing off-gassing pressures creating full depth repair... 

Want an Alchemy-Spetec leak seal grout lab in your area? Find your local product distributor and ask them to call us!

Don’t want to wait? Travel to the Atlanta area for the next Alchemy-Spetec contractor training on March 14^th and 15^th at our headquarters. Click here for more information on the Atlanta-area training program!

Want more info on Alchemy-Spetec leak seal products?

Leak seal product distributor Sunshine Supply, headquartered in San Diego, hosted a well-attended Alchemy-Spetec Grout Lab today for local contractors in the area. The curriculum included…

Classroom Polyurethane Leak Seal Training

• Safety Considerations for Polyurethane Leak Seal Work
• Crack Injection Products and Application Procedures
• Curtain Grouting Products and Application Procedures

Live Polyurethane Leak Seal Demos

• Concrete Crack Injection
• Curtain Grouting
• Pump Startup and Maintenance

Want an Alchemy-Spetec leak seal grout lab in your area? Find your local product distributor and ask them to call us!

Don’t want to wait? Travel to the Atlanta area for the next Alchemy-Spetec contractor training on March 14^th and 15^th at our headquarters. Click here for more information on the Atlanta-area training program!

Want more info on Alchemy-Spetec leak seal products?

Get ready for a thorough education in polyurethane leak seal products and applications on Thursday, March 14th (March 15th is geotech day), 2019 at Alchemy-Spetec HQ in Tucker, GA. You’ll get hands-on training from a technical staff with decades of on-the-job experience. Registration includes both days, but we’ll take a close look at the leak seal curriculum in today’s blog post…

The schedule on Thursday, March 14th includes presentations on the Alchemy-Spetec leak seal product line, crack injection, curtain grouting, permeation grouting, pumps & packers, leak seal accessories and municipal applications. There will also be live injection demos, product mixing demos, and open discussions for sharing job related tips and solutions from the field.

Your instructors have years of experience providing technical support for both contractors and distributors across the country. You can look forward to presentations, demos and/or discussions lead by Stephen C. Barton (President/CEO), Jim Spiegel (VP Sales & Business Development), Andy Powell (Southeastern Regional Manager), Anthony Sandone (Eastern Regional Manager), and Charlie Lerman (Western Regional Manager). 

Participants will receive a Samsung tablet loaded with leak seal training material.

The registration deadline is February 28th.

Sign up while there's still space available...

The dreaded floor/wall leak. Anyone who has seen enough leaks in their time knows that the wall/floor detail can be an injection contractors arch-nemesis. But it doesn't have to be so difficult. Please take a look at the basic detail depicted in the graphic which shows a common mistake as well as a couple of ways to remedy this situation with chemical grouting. Alchemy-Spetec has several products that can be used for this application. For an explanation of when and why you would use Spetec PUR H100, Spetec PUR F400, Spetec AG200, or Spetec PUR GT500, please call us at 404-618-0438, or click the button at the bottom of this article to schedule a consultation with a technical consultant.

See a close up of the graphic and an overview of the drilling methods below:

Bottom Arrow: This is the least commonly used drilling location, but when done correctly it seals the under-slab leak path as well as the wall/footer leak path. It's the least intuitive because it requires specific knowledge of the footer construction. 

Want to schedule an appointment with an Alchemy-Spetec tech consultant to learn more about this process? 

Leak Seal & Geotech Products & Procedures

March 14 & 15, 2019 at Alchemy-Spetec HQ in Tucker, GA

Get ready for a thorough education in Leak Seal, Slab Lifting, Soil Stabilization and the Alchemy-Spetec Deep Lift™ process. You’ll get hands-on training from a technical staff with decades of on-the-job experience.

Thursday - Leak Seal

• Leak Seal Product Line Overview
• Curtain Grouting
• Permeation Grouting
• Leak-Seal Product Mixing
• Pump & Packer Overviews
• Leak-Seal Accessories
• Municipal Applications
• Live Injection Demos
• Open Discussions

Friday - Geotech

• Geotech Product Line Overview
• Soil Stabilization
• Geotech Product Mixing
• Rig & Mobile System Overviews
• Geotechnical Accessories
• Slab Lifting Live Demo
• Deep Lift™ Overview
• Soil Testing with the
• GPR & Penetrometer
• Maintenance Discussions
• Pricing / Estimating / Cost Savings
• Open Discussions

Participants receive a Samsung tablet loaded with training material.

Your Instructors:

Stephen C. Barton (President/CEO), Jim Spiegel (VP Sales & Business Development), Andy Powell (Southeastern Regional Manager), Anthony Sandone (Eastern Regional Manager), and Charlie Lerman (Western Regional Manager). Each instructor is a seasoned professional with at least a decade of experience in the industry.  

In this blog post, we will share some tips for stabilizing soil in cold weather. The two main points to remember are – make sure the ground isn’t frozen and condition your material and equipment properly.

Do Not Attempt Soil Stabilization Work When the Ground is Frozen

If you’re considering soil stabilization in cold weather, the first step is to make sure that the water table isn’t frozen. Iced earth is not permeable enough for proper mixing of resin and soil. If you attempt to proceed with frozen soil, you’ll just be wasting your material. Best to wait it out in that case.

Properly Condition Equipment and Materials

For optimal results, it’s best to store any materials and equipment that are to be used in a heated environment over night. It’s best to keep your AP Soil 600 above 60 degrees at all times. This is key because cold material reacts slower and gets thicker. The methods you use to condition your material on the job site will depend on the type of vehicle you’re using.

In Slab Lifting in Cold Weather, we described in detail how to condition materials for cold weather if you’re using a rig…

If you have an insulated rig, it should stay around 40 degrees warmer than outside temperatures. Most foam rigs have built in electric heaters that require an extension cord to a power outlet at the job site or at your facility for overnight storage. Alternately, you could buy an electric radiator heater. Other available heating devices include drum band heaters and heated drum mats (be careful not to scorch the polymers by turning band heaters up too high). For a more DIY approach, you could build a hot box around the material storage area in your rig.

If you’re using pails and a smaller vehicle, we offered tips for that set up in my Polyurethane Leak Seal in Cold Weather article…

Use an enclosed vehicle, like a box truck, enclosed trailer or pickup truck with a camper top or bed cover. Keep as much material and equipment inside the vehicle as possible when working. Use a portable heater to maintain a warm temperature. You can also use electric pail heaters to keep your resin ready for action.

Using a combination of the methods described above, you should be able to keep your materials warm enough. In extreme cases when the material gets a bit too cold and thick, you may want to use AP Cat 600 to speed up the reaction time.

Conclusion

As long as the ground isn’t frozen, you should be able to stabilize soil in cold weather.  Just make sure your materials and equipment are conditioned properly.  If you have any further questions, please contact us at 404-618-0438.

Want in-depth info on soil stabilization products?

As we stated in a previous blog post, Slab Lifting in Cold Weather, there are plenty of jobs that need to be done in the winter. This is just as true for sealing leaks as it is for slab lifting. So let's take a look at those cold weather leak seal markets. We'll also review some special considerations for conditioning leak seal material and equipment. Then we’ll leave you with a few cold temperature leak seal application tips.

Cold Weather Markets

You have a variety of options for seeking jobs that are inside, out of the elements, during the winter months.  Hopefully these ideas will spark more brainstorming on your part. First up we have tunnels, both pedestrian and vehicle. Tunnels often leak, sometimes significantly enough to result in quite a big job. Aquariums are another possibility. As you can imagine, there are infinite potential leak problems in a structure holding that much water. Other possible large jobs could include mines and water treatment plants (which have plenty of interior spaces with potential leak issues). On the smaller side, there are utility vaults, lift stations, manholes and elevator pits.

If you’re still up for working outside during the winter months, you’re in luck because concrete contracts during colder weather. The contraction makes cracks open wider. Wider cracks make leaks more apparent to the property owner and make them easier to repair.

Conditioning Materials and Equipment

One important point to understand is that cold weather requires you to make an extra effort to keep your materials and equipment warm. Cold material reacts slower and gets thicker. Be sure to store your materials and equipment in a heated room the night before the job. When on the jobsite, there are many ways to keep everything warm. Use an enclosed vehicle, like a box truck, enclosed trailer or pickup truck with a camper top or bed cover. Keep as much material and equipment inside the vehicle as possible when working. Use a portable heater to maintain a warm temperature. You can also use electric pail heaters to keep your resin ready for action.

Remember that it won’t do you any good to heat the resin if you’re pumping it through cold equipment. The cold steel inside the pump and the cold hose will literally suck the heat out of the resin before it gets where it needs to be. This will increase the viscosity, making it harder to mix with the water and it will slow down the reaction dramatically. So don’t neglect the equipment side of the equation!

Cold Temperature Application Tips

If you’re using a product with an accelerator, you may need to use a faster accelerator or increase your percentage. Also, bring lots of oakum. You may have to use more if the cold temperature slows down the material or the contracted concrete has made the cracks wider.

If your job requires you to inject into a structure underwater (and the water’s cold), you can use a technique called twin streaming. In this approach, you hook two valves together in parallel fashion – then inject warm water along with the resin to kick start it reacting before hitting the cold water.

Conclusion

I hope this overview has helped spark some ideas on your part for finding leak seal work during the winter months. Just remember to keep your materials and equipment conditioned and you should be fine. Have more questions about polyurethane leak seal in cold weather? Call us at 404-618-0438.

Want more in-depth info on polyurethane leak seal?

Voids beneath concrete slabs can be filled with two component polymer foam designed to work in wet or dry conditions. AP Lift 430 foam can support up to 7,200 lbs per square foot and will cure to 90% full strength in 15 minutes.  (Of the most resilient concrete slab jacking foams, AP Lift 430 is proven to lift concrete slabs under harsh conditions. This two-component, high-strength, high-density, hydro-insensitive structural polyurethane foam is the top slab jacking solution for concrete slab foundation repair, soil stabilization, and compaction grouting. AP Lift 430 weighs 2.75 – 3.25 pounds per cubic foot.)

Polyurethane foam under concrete conforms to void shape more accurately than cement grout, and - unlike cement - it doesn't shrink or sink over time.

The video below depicts a real time example of void fill and slab stabilization. A residential driveway is undermined by a large void. Because an entire bank of soil washed away on one side of the slab, we get an unusually clear view of polyurethane void fill in action. 

Observe the process closely and let us know if you have any follow up questions. We have the most knowledgeable and helpful customer support in the industry, so don't hesitate to call us at 404-618-0438 after you've watched this video! 

Want in-depth info on slab lifting and slab void fill with polyurethane foam?