Alchatek Blog

Does Your Seawall Need Sealing?

In general, seawalls protect property from erosion over time and from damage during extreme weather. But this is only the case when the seawall is not leaking. If your seawall is compromised, consider having it sealed with polyurethane resin. (To determine if your seawall is compromised, see our blog post Telltale Signs Your Seawall May Need Repairs.) The key to keeping problems at bay is to actively anticipate them. Regularly inspect your seawall or call us at 404-618-0438 to help you find a professional to inspect it for you.

Polyurethane Products for Seawall Sealing

AP Fill 700 and Spetec PUR H200 are both semi-rigid hydrophobic polyurethane foams that react with moisture in the soil and expand to fill voids while permeating sandy soil to form a solid, strong, watertight mass.  These are the two most commonly used foams for sealing seawall cracks, voids and defects (as well as for filling voids and stabilizing soil).  

Andy Powell summed it up perfectly in Signs a Seawall is in Need of Repair...

If you live along the water, it is always going to be man against nature. That seawall is keeping your property from damage and from disappearing altogether. The key to extending the life of your seawall is the advanced polyurethane technology from Alchemy-Spetec. For more on the repair process itself, read An In-Depth Look at Polyurethane Seawall Repair. It's fast, clean, easy to install, and most of all, effective.

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Using oakum with chemical grout is a way of sealing gushing leaks, as well as sealing the area (annular space) around pipes passing through concrete structures. When a pipe passes through a concrete structure and the annular space around the pipe is large, the saturated oakum technique can be used to seal off the water infiltration. Oakum saturated with grout can be used alone to seal off water flow. It can also be utilized to build a surface seal or “dam” behind which grout can be pumped. 

Procedures

This is a two-person process.

1. Clean the crack or space to be sealed of any loose debris and foreign material.
2. Cut the oakum in various lengths to fit the perimeter requirements of the area to be sealed.
3. Soak the oakum in the grout.
4. One person will wring out the soaked oakum and hand it to the other person, who will...
5. Dip the oakum into a pail of water to activate the grout and then place the activated oakum into the crack or space using a screw driver or a similar tool.

After the space has been packed with saturated oakum, you can inject grout behind the seal with an injection needle. 

For more information, see our previous post on this subject and call us at 404-618-0438.

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Today’s guest blogger is Bill Stivers, an experienced salesman at Alchemy-Spetec distributor Sunshine Supply.

As a Salesman at Sunshine Supply, I’ve dealt with a lot of leak seal products over the years.  But I don’t often get the chance to try them out on my own property.  I recently, however, had an issue with a leaking swimming pool in my own back yard.  Water was draining through the seams between the slabs of my pool deck and causing erosion.  In addition, ground squirrels and rabbits had been digging around the area over the years, causing further issues with soil displacement.  The pool deck was destabilized along with the wall surrounding the pool.  They had both slipped about a half an inch down a small hill on one side.  Some bricks around the pool had settled about 2 inches.  My extensive experience in this field told me that this was just the beginning of a much more serious problem.  The leaking water had to be contained and the soil around the structures had to be stabilized immediately.

Due to my position at Sunshine Supply, I am familiar with a wide range of leak seal products, and there was one that I knew would be ideal for this job: Spetec PUR H200.  We injected deep into the soil on the hillside via 6-foot injection pipes.  We used an F-Valve to simultaneously inject water along with the resin to jump-start the reaction process.  (The wet soil would have caused the resin to react anyways, but the added water kick started the reaction process for a quicker install of the material.)  This process prevents the wall and pool deck from further slippage by stopping the seeping water and stabilizing the supporting soil.

If you live in any of the following areas and want to buy your leak seal supplies from distributors with expert knowledge of the products, make sure you contact Sunshine Supply at any of the following locations:

• Anaheim
• Denver
• Ontario
• Salt Lake
• San Diego
• San Marcos

Want more information on Alchemy-Spetec leak seal products?

Leak Seal & Geotech Products & Procedures

October 9th & 10th, 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.

Wednesday - 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

Thursday - 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), Charlie Lerman (Western Regional Manager), and Michael Binyaminov (Western Sales Representative). 

I recently consulted with the city of Othello, WA on an interesting application for the leak seal product Spetec PUR HighFoamer.

A galvanized corrugated steel pipe was being used for stormwater drainage to an irrigation canal. The pipe had rusted over time, and water was coming out around the pipe causing the bank to erode. The city put a 25' stick of HDPE pipe inside the existing steel pipe. A hole was Vactor'ed out and two zerks were tapped into the to the metal pipe.

Spetec PUR HighFoamer was injected between the metal host pipe and the smaller HDPE pipe. The system was in-service and had flow during the procedure. The Spetec PUR HighFoamer filled the annular space between the two pipes and stopped the water traveling between the pipes.

As you can see in the "before" photograph below, there was a separate outflow stream to the right of the main stream due to leaking in between the pipe layers (outlined by a red oval).  The red circle below shows where the stream from the leak was hitting the side of the bank.  After Spetec PUR HighFoamer is installed between the pipe layers, the leak is sealed, that separate outflow stream is gone and the bank is no longer getting soaked.  The pipe is now functioning exactly as it should.

Want more information on Alchemy-Spetec leak seal products?

Alchemy-Spetec offers a variety of accessories for use with the leak seal product line.  In this post, we'll take a brief tour.  If you have any questions about these products, don't hesitate to call us at 404-618-0438.

Electric Injection Pumps

Alchemy-Spetec offers world-class Titan electric injection pumps for sealing both small and gushing leaks as well as filling voids behind and below structures.  Read more here...

Additional Equipment

Additional leak seal equipment includes the High Pressure Crack Injection Valve, the F-Valve Assembly, the Flush Wand, Oakum, and an extensive line of Packers and Ports.  Read more here...

Spetec Pump Cleaner

Spetec Pump Cleaner is a non-flammable solvent for cleaning uncured polyurethane from injection equipment. 

AP Soak 130

AP Soak 130 is a reusable, non-flammable solvent for cleaning cured resin from metal components.

Spetec Surface Guard

Spetec Surface Guard is a temporary coating for protecting concrete from polyurethane resin stains during  injection jobs.

AP Lube 190

AP Lube 190 is a lubricant for preventing isocyanate from setting up inside pumps or hoses.

Spetec Gel Reinforcing Agent

Spetec Gel Reinforcing Agent is an acrylic latex additive used to increase the strength and flexibility of our AG series of acrylic gels.

Want more information on the Alchemy-Spetec leak seal product line?

Spetec Gel Reinforcing Agent is an acrylic latex additive used to increase the strength and flexibility of our AG series of acrylic gels: Spetec AG100, Spetec AG200 and AP SoilGel 200.

Advantages

• Improved adhesion.
• Increased hydrostatic pressure resistance.
• Improved resistance to wet/dry cycles.
• Improved low temperature flexibility.
• Minimizes hydrophilic shrinkage in dry cycling.
• Solvent free.
• Non-toxic.

Field of Application

• Soil stabilization in below grade structures when used in conjunction with the AG series of products.
• Leak seal in below grade structures when used in conjunction with the AG series of products.

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Alchemy-Spetec has added 4 new items to our product line!

Jack & Beam System

The Jack & Beam System provides mechanical leverage for guiding the lift direction of slabs or holding them in place while filling voids beneath. This invaluable tool provides polyurethane slab lifters with a distinct advantage in precision slab placement.

The system includes 2 beams, 4 jacks and all the necessary hardware.

Sidewinder Scuff Guard

The Sidewinder Scuff Guard incorporates the most advanced insulation and abrasion-resistant materials to enhance application and provide higher yields when pushing foam. Available in both insulated and non-insulated versions, the Sidewinder installs in minutes and offers unmatched hose protection from heavy abrasion, moisture, and temperature energy loss.

Spetec Gel Reinforcing Agent

Spetec Gel Reinforcing Agent is an acrylic latex additive used to increase the strength and flexibility of our AG series of acrylic gels.

AP Lube 190

AP Lube 190 is a multi-purpose lubricant for use with both electric injection pumps and proportioner/reactor pumps.

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Leaking concrete can be detrimental to safety and property values. The products offered by Alchemy-Spetec deliver the ultimate solution for hairline cracks, gushing leaks and other waterstop issues.

Sealing Leaks with Concrete Crack Injection

Concrete starts decaying immediately after it cures. Even brand new construction can require leak seal follow up work. Older concrete structures are even more susceptible. Leaks through concrete are generally going to be through cracks, joints, and honeycomb (areas in poured concrete of mainly course aggregate with voids in between). Depending on water volume and pressure, and the size of the joint or crack, you are going to encounter weeping leaks, steady leaks, and gushing leaks. These leaks can be sealed with crack injection resin.

Stopping Multiple Leaks with Curtain Wall Grouting

Curtain wall grouting is often required when cracks cannot be identified, when the walls are made of material that does not respond well to crack injection (such as masonry, stone and CMU), and when previous leak seal methods have failed.  Curtain wall grouting is the process of injecting water reactive resin behind the leaking wall in a grid pattern. The water on the other side mixes with the grout and cures to a solid mass covering
the surface of the wall on the other side.

Waterstop

Newly constructed floor/wall joints with no waterstop lining can be vulnerable to water infiltration. When designers and builders neglect to line the joints, water can seep into the structure and out onto the floor. Needless to say, water on the floor can be an inconvenience, it can be a safety hazard, and it can damage property. In addition, floor/wall joint leaks can cause the concrete to decay and spall over the long run. Alchemy-Spetec offers a variety of waterstop solutions.

Want more leak seal resources?

The U.S. Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Reclamation recently conducted a study in which they evaluated methods for sealing contraction joints in dams. They tested 8 methods. Spetec PUR F400 was used in one of only two methods that reduced water flow 100%. We'll share some excerpts from their report in today's blog post...

The U.S. Department of the Interior protects America’s natural resources and heritage, honors our cultures and tribal communities, and supplies the energy to power our future. The mission of the Bureau of Reclamation is to manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in an environmentally and economically sound manner in the interest of the American public. 

All Reclamation concrete dams have joints which experience pressure caused by the reservoir water elevation. These joints have waterstops between the formed drain and the upstream face of the dam to prevent water leakage through the joint. Over time, the waterstops can begin to leak which can become a significant maintenance issue. These leaks can lead to millions of dollars of increased maintenance costs across numerous facilities, since they corrode metalwork, increase operation costs through increased pumping to remove excess water, and reduce worker productivity as they work around the leaks, etc. In some cases, the water leaks can threaten or damage expensive equipment.

Conventional leaking contraction joint repair methods are either very expensive or do not last long. Based on work from previous years looking into cheaper repair options, where we developed an inexpensive method to deliver repair materials to a specific location deep under water, several prototype repair methods were developed. To test those methods, we built a laboratory fixture to simulate a leaking contraction joint in a dam under pressures as high as 35 psi. With this fixture we tested different repair options. These options included sawdust, hydrophilic waterstop chips, chemical grouts used for sealing water leakage through concrete, and combinations of the chips and grouts.

In this testing we found that sawdust didn’t slow the water flowing through the test fixture joint. Hydrophilic chips slowed the water by as much as 65%, and Hydrophilic chips combined with some chemical grouts completely stopped the water flow through the test fixture joint. These results could have substantial implications at Reclamation facilities with leaking contraction joints. These methods can be implemented to significantly reduce or completely stop the infiltration of water and are much cheaper than many alternatives.

Here is the product comparison table excerpted from the report...

You can read more about the report here and download the entire report here.

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