High Rise Basement Waterproofing
The enormous basement of Civil & Civic's successful new Darling Park
project extends to 19 metres below Darling Harbour at high tide level.
| The use of a unique, non-absorptive and impermeable structural concrete, on its own, has made it possible for this basement to be constructed entirely free on conventional 'waterproofing'. It is free of any membranes, free of internal drainage, free of applied coatings or similar materials or protection. The below-harbour structure provides for car parking spaces and houses substations, plant & equipment rooms in a permanently dry environment corrosion-proofed against sea water. | |
| Leading-edge Technology. To achieve this remarkable under-water performance, the developer has taken full advantage of the Cementaid Everdure Caltite System for concrete. The Caltite System was invented and first used in Australia in 1960 by the wholly Australian-owned Cementaid Group. The Caltite System profoundly enhances several important properties of normal concrete. high strength Caltite structural concrete is non-absorptive and it is impermeable to water penetration even at great pressures. |
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| Caltite concrete has very low shrinkage, up to 50% less than ordinary concretes, as well as higher tensile strengths. This gives it excellent resistance to cracking. Cementaid have added to this superior construction material a simple and very effective method of sealing joints and penetrations through Caltite concrete, plus a wide range of specialist curing compounds. This enables Cementaid to provide a full 'package' and provide a written guarantee of the performance of each Caltite structure. |
| 'Waterproofing' is totally eliminated! Because the basement Caltite structural concrete is non-absorptive and impermeable to water, there is no need at all for any ordinary 'waterproofing' applications or the ancillary works associated with them. In the Darling Park project no additional over-excavation was needed to allow for waterproofing. This meant that the extreme edge of the external walls could be placed right on the site boundary and that no internal space would be lost due to perimeter wall drainage. The site area usage and internal usable net areas were maximised, thus increasing the structure's value. |
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Full technical service and on-site backup. Cementaid provides full service from specification stage to backup the Everdure Caltite System on every project. Our own personnel attent trial mixes at concrete suppliers and dose the Caltite ingredients at the plant on the day of the pour. Another Cementaid representative is present at the site itself to provide immediate advice and monitor the handling, placing and finishing of the Caltite concrete. Quality control samples and QA checklists are used to ensure optimum results with every project. Forty Year Ongoing Successful Track Record! The Cementaid Caltite System has a successful 40 year ongoing history of use in Australia, and more than 35 years overseas. An example being fully flooded roofs constructed in 1963 (St. John of God Hospital, Geelong, Australia), continuing in service today - a maintenance-free service life of 38 years. Cementaid manufacturers and distributes our products globally, end Everdure Caltite structures have been installed in 23 countries. Up to a quarter of a million cubic metres of Caltite concrete are placed each year internationally in all kinds of modern structures, from a 33,000 square metre poduim roof deck in Hong Kong, to a four level Bank basement below the Thames River in London, to jetties and marine structures throughout Australia and S.E.Asia. |
