Containers on Terminal
Located at 428 Terminal Avenue, this 5-storey office building has one level below grade parking structure and is built in the False Creek area of Vancouver. This area is just slightly above sea level and is just adjacent to the end of the False Creek inlet. As such, due to its location and the climate of the lower mainland of British Columbia, the underground structure is exposed to ongoing contact with water under moderate hydrostatic pressure. The below grade waterproofing is done using Xypex Concrete Waterproofing by Crystallization only. There is no membrane, drainage layer, or drainage assembly used. Further details are as follows: Xypex Admix C-500 was added to approximately 500 m3 of concrete at a dosage of approximately 2% of the cement for the below-grade exterior walls and slab. This includes the concrete for the elevator pit. The mix was a standard 30 MPa fly ash mix. The exterior walls were landed on the slab and the walls had 1” x 1” (25 mm x 25 mm) square profiled preformed control joints spaced approximately every 20 ft. These construction joints had a PVC waterstop installed to waterproof the expected crack locations. The profile was chosen to allow easy installation of Xypex Patch’n Plug and Concentrate at any of these joints that might leak. Additional cracks formed in the walls between these control joints most of which did not leak or initially leaked and self healed with Xypex over time. Several cracks that did not self heal were chipped and packed per Xypex crack repair methods. The wall slab interface was poured with a first 4”- 8” lift of Xypex admixture modified grout to ensure a well consolidated wall / slab interface. The wall / slab interface has a PVC waterstop and also had installed a slurry coat of Xypex Concentrate at the interface of the wall and slab. A Xypex seal strip of approximately 1” x 1.5” preformed on the inside at the wall / slab interface and was packed with Xypex Concentrate after the concrete was hardened. There was very good concrete consolidation and no leaking at the wall / slab joint. As can be seen from the photographs the concrete and all joints are dry and leak free. The people involved with the project are happy with the waterproofing performance of the Xypex materials used in this below water table foundation.