Alchatek Blog

In today’s blog post I am going to talk about Epicol INJ LV.

What is Epicol INJ LV?

Epicol INJ LV is a low-viscosity, long pot life epoxy resin designed for the structural bonding of cracks and micro cracks in dry or wet concrete. The low-viscosity allows this epoxy resin to deeply penetrate micro cracks and the long pot life allows the material to be injected as a single component. It has good chemical resistance to alkalis, petroleum derivatives, acid, diluted organic acids, salts and other solutions.

What is the installation process for Epicol INJ LV?

I'll briefly outline the installation process for you below, so you have an idea how the product is used. As with all of our products, don't hesitate to call us at 404-618-0438 for assistance.

Preparing the Application Surface

Clean the surface. Install injection ports. Apply a 2 to 3 inch wide band of Epicol T to seal the crack. Allow surface seal to cure prior to injection.

Mixing

Use a mechanical mixer to pre-mix Component A before use. Add the full amount of Component B and mix at 300 RPM for 3 minutes or until the mixture is homogeneous. Scrape the sides and the bottom of the container as you mix.

When Injecting Into Concrete

Epicol INJ-LV can be injected with a low pressure pump. The injection starts at the lowest point for vertical applications and at the smallest crack for horizontal ones. Start the injection at the first port. Inject the crack until the resin reaches the next port and repeat this procedure until the crack is completely filled. Never mix more resin than can be used within the pot life. Rinse the pump with a solvent. After one day the ports can be removed.

Use

Epicol INJ-LV can be mechanically loaded after 48 hours

Want more information on Alchemy-Spetec structural repair products?

Over the years, I have been asked countless times for the best way to seal pipe penetrations and other irregular annular spaces, including how to seal pipe penetrations effectively. Pipe penetration scenarios often have to do with water supply lines, electrical conduits and gas lines just to name a few. The main concern is creating a durable watertight seal between the outside of the pipe and the structure the pipe is penetrating through.

Use oakum soaked in a resin such as F400, AP Seal 500, F1000, AP Fill 700 or H100. The soaked oakum can then be packed around the annular space, and forced back into the opening of the cracks with a screwdriver or similar tool. Soaking and packing the oakum this way creates a firm gasket that stops any immediate leaks. The next step is to inject one of these resins behind the gasket using an injection needle (contact us for more information on injection needles).

Want more information on leak seal products?

Alchemy-Spetec products have many uses. Sometimes it's helpful to consider ways in which the products compliment alternate repair applications already being practiced in our industry. Today I'll take a look at how some of our products can assist in the application known as spin casting.

Spin casting is the process of sealing manholes and corrugated pipes that have deteriorated. A spinning machine evenly casts an epoxy coating around the inside surface of the structure. There's one essential pre-requisite, however - that inside surface needs to be dry for the coating to last.

This is where polyurethane leak seal products such as AP Fill 700 and H100 can be very helpful. The resins can be injected from the inside of the structure through drill holes to form a watertight barrier in the soil on the outside. These resins react with moisture to form a watertight seal. 

Our technical staff is very familiar with the process of spin casting. If you're doing this type of work and would like to talk about sealing leaks with resins, give us a call at 404-618-0438.

Want More Information On Leak Seal Products?

Today's blog post is a brief profile of our longtime Operations Manager, Matt Schmitt. 

Matt's responsibilities include: leading the Production Department in manufacturing our resin products, supervising the assembly of customized equipment such as the MixMaster Pro slab lifting gun, overseeing labeling and packaging, tracking inventory, and ordering raw materials. His management skills and acute attention to detail are key components in ensuring that top quality product is available and ready for use in your next project!

Matt's hobbies include fishing, backpacking and woodworking. At one point in his career, Matt was a very successful chef - which is where he became an expert at keeping track of raw materials, mixing ingredients to perfection, and delivering the best results to customers.

Have a question or suggestion for Matt?

As mentioned in the previous blog post Stop Erosion Through Your Seawall with Polyurethane:

When it comes to seawalls, there is a lot more to learn than meets the eye. A seawall is like a living, breathing thing: especially in the way that they are designed to function. But like all living breathing things, they have a finite lifespan. For many of them, it's a mere 20 – 30 years. For many seawalls, their lifespan is a mere 20-30 years and depending on where you live, replacing a seawall can cost anywhere from $150 to $500 per foot. 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.

Now that you're armed with this information, let’s take a look at a few advantages of pursuing large industrial seawall projects over residential projects.

Higher Budgets/Larger Areas Needing Repair

Additional Properties

Industrial property owners and managers are more likely to have additional properties needing repair. After you complete your first job for an industrial customer, keep in touch with them regularly so that you're top of mind when their next seawall repair problem arises.

More Bang for Your Buck

Think about it this way. You have to spend a certain amount of your marketing budget per lead anyways. Why not focus that money on industrial sized customers? You're more likely to get a higher return on your investment in the short term and seriously scale up your business in the long term.

Want more information on industrial seawall repair?

Recently in Queens, New York, a property owner came to our customer George Laubshire of LJS Waterproofing with an incredibly dire problem. Previous contractors poured an 8000 square foot, 36 inch deep slab for him. But they skipped a critical step: They did not waterproof the slab. It turns out that there was water running through underneath. Within a few months the concrete began to completely fail.

The property owner tried to use a diesel pump to get the water out. As you can likely guess, this didn't help much (even after 6 months of running the pump 24 hours a day). By this point over 60 psi of water was pouring out of cracks. In some places, water shot out about 6 inches above the concrete floor. Oakum was applied to slow the water down. But the pressure was so high that it essentially blew the oakum back out - even when the contractors were trying to stomp the oakum down into the cracks.

After careful evaluation, we recommended they use AP Fill 700 (paired with the catalyst AP 107). We advised the contractor to drill ports at an even distance from each other, and then slowly inject AP Fill 700. First they curbed the water flow, and then eventually they permanently remedied the problem. The soil under the slab was solidified to the point that the water in the ground had no choice but to flow somewhere else. After months of failed repair attempts by other contractors, the property owner was happy to finally get this problem resolved.

Afterwards our customer George Laubshire said to me, "Anthony, I've been pumping grout for years. And this is the best product that I have ever used. This product will make any contractor into a hero!"

Want more information on concrete leak seal repair products?

In this post I'll provide an overview of the concrete repair equipment that we offer, including slab lifting pumps, crack injection pumps, air compressors and accessories.

Hydraulic Proportioners Customized for Lifting  

PMC plural component proportioners are used to inject AP two-component structural polyurethane foams for slab lifting and soil stabilization.  Rugged and dependable, these pumps utilize relays and circuit breakers instead of circuit boards, vastly increasing reliability and preventing maintenance problems.  Read more...

Airless Sprayers Customized for Crack Injection  

Modified for injecting Alchemy-Spetec leak seal and soil stabilization resins, the world-class Titan pumps we offer are essential tools for sealing both small and gushing leaks as well as filling voids behind and below structures.  Read more...

Air Compressors

The FS Curtis series of air compressors we offer are the go to choice for powering your PMC drum pumps and air powered proportioners.  Dedicated to their customers, this brand name is synonymous with legendary reliability.  Read more...

Custom Slab Lifting Gun

We also manufacture an injection gun designed specifically for slab lifting. It is custom built to handle back-pressure. For detailed information, read this blog post: MixMaster Pro- The Reliable Slab lifting Gun.

Accessories

Want more detailed information on Alchemy-Spetec equipment?

Armed with the right approach and the right tools, you can increase your market presence significantly while attracting more and more leads. I'll briefly mention a few basic points in this article. For more details, make sure to download the brochure linked at the bottom. 

First and foremost, your website design should be user friendly. A frustrated website user often becomes a lost lead. In addition, your website text should be optimized for search engines. Find a specialist to research relevant key words most often searched in your city or state. It's important for site to be well designed, easy to navigate, and easy for search engines to find.

One of the most effective ways to capture leads is to maintain a frequently updated blog. Pack it with articles that your customers might find useful. Make sure to incoporate search terms into your blog post titles so they're easy to find via search engines. Offer something of real value at the end of each post in exchange for contact information. If maintaining a blog sounds like a lot of work, then hire an assistant or freelancer to assist you. Done correctly, this approach can have an extremely positive impact on your lead volume. For more on this subject, read this excellent article.

It also helps to maintain active accounts on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Refrain from clouding your accounts with sales pitches. Instead, share useful information such as links to your blog posts, helpful tips for customers, etc. With this approach, your followers will be more likely to stick around and your content is more likely to be shared. You can also join industry groups on some of these platforms to share and receive tips, leads and helpful info.

Other effective approaches include giving presentations at professional associations, signing up with referral sites and exhibiting at home shows. The possibilities are endless, really - but hopefully that's enough to get you started in upgrading your approach. Feel free to give us a call for marketing advice at 404-618-0438. 

Want more detailed information on how to market your contracting business?

The other morning we were sitting in our sales meeting, and our Western Regional Manager mentioned something about running a small order through distribution, even though the contractor is huge and is probably used to dealing directly with suppliers. Thad's point was that on a really busy job, it is much more convenient to buy from a distributor that can deliver product directly to your job site, as opposed to depending on a freight company to deliver it from the manufacturer.

Spelling Out the Advantages

Want help finding your local distributor?

 

We're happy to annouce that equipment financing is now available through Accord Financial Group. Accord has been helping countless businesses finance their equipment since 1992. They are a small, family owned business with an emphasis on taking care of their customers. Check out the interview below with Dough Richter of Accord Financial Group.

How did you come to focus on financing equipment, specifically? 

Equipment financing and leasing is a very specialized industry but it is huge. Small businesses, especially, can’t always afford a large equipment payment. We decided to focus on this area because it provides a huge benefit for our customers. In fact, some of them would not be in business without our services! We work in a number of industries but gravitate towards the construction and excavating industries where there is much need for capital equipment.

What are the advantages to financing equipment versus paying the full amount up front?

There are some hidden costs associated with paying cash for equipment that the customer doesn’t always realize. What other uses or investments could the customer make with that cash outlay? Perhaps hire a new employee, advertise in a trade magazine or just maintain a cushion of cash for a rainy day. By utilizing our services, the customer keeps his cash free but builds equity in the equipment as he or she uses it.

What advantages would you say Accord Financial Group, Inc. offers over other lenders?

Accord takes a very “hands-on” approach with its customers. We work hard to figure out the best terms and conditions for our customers. Big banks and leasing companies are very automated today and customer service often takes a back seat. I talk to every customer and make sure I get the best program for them. Most small business owners appreciate our approach!

Through Accord, we are able to offer a one-stop-shop approach in helping you finance your equpment. All you need to do is review the equipment we offer, then call one of our reps to discuss your options in more detail and get a quote. Once you have a quote, you can click the link below and apply for financing!

Alchemy-Spetec Equipment Financing Application

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