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Aurora, Ill. — March 17, 2015 — In 2011, a tornado seriously damaged St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo. The city’s new hospital, which opens in March 2015, is designed to withstand powerful tornados, and TEC products were specified to help protect its floor from more day-to-day occurrences. The TEC total system helps the hospital prevent excessive moisture vapor emissions and withstand heavy use by doctors, hospital employees, and patients.
After it took a direct hit from the 2011 tornado, St. John’s nine-story building was deemed structurally compromised and later torn down. As part of the rebuilding process, construction manager McCarthy Building Companies, Mercy health system, flooring contractor Flooring Systems Inc., and tile contractor Zickel Flooring decided that the TEC system was the best choice for the new hospital’s subfloor. Flooring Systems Inc. was familiar with TEC products and TEC offered a 25-year warranty for its system.
“From a general contractor's point of view, technical support is incredibly important,” said Jeremy Witts, project manager with McCarthy Building Companies. “TEC sends support directly to the job site.”
The TEC technical team has been involved in the project since its foundation was laid – literally. TEC experts first visited the hospital, located at Interstate 44 and Hearnes Boulevard, in November 2012. They met the flatwork contractor, McCarthy, and Mercy to discuss the appropriate concrete surface profiles for their line of surface preparation products and adhesives, and observed the initial concrete pours.
Mercy Hospital Joplin was constructed with special attention to longevity and durability — from floor to ceiling. Hospitals increasingly recognize the risk to both flooring and tile posed by moisture vapor emissions from concrete slabs. Moisture problems cause more than $1 billion in flooring installation failures annually. Hospitals are higher-stakes environments than most, since a flooring failure in a hospital can cause costly temporary shutdowns. For that reason, McCarthy, Flooring Systems, Zickel Flooring, and Mercy opted to mitigate 400,000 square feet of the hospital with TEC The LiquiDAM Penetrating Moisture Barrier, which exceeds the ASTM F3010-13 standard for moisture vapor barriers, and doesn’t require shot blasting on green, sound concrete.
“TEC provides cost-efficient moisture mitigation. Their system saves labor hours, which minimizes costs,” Witts said.
TEC The LiquiDAM allows for efficient and effective surface preparation, which was essential for this massive project. Its one-coat, fast-drying formula cures in just four to five hours, allowing installers with Flooring Systems and Zickel Flooring to quickly move onto other aspects of the installation. TEC experts worked with the Flooring Systems and Zickel Flooring crews in Joplin as they familiarized themselves with the product.
“The LiquiDAM requires fewer steps than other products and is much more user-friendly,” said Don Robinson, foreman with Flooring Systems. “It gives us a smooth finish, which allows for less work down the road.”
After priming the floor with TEC Multipurpose Primer, Flooring Systems and Zickel Flooring provided a smooth foundation for the future patients of Joplin Mercy Hospital. They used TEC Fast-Set Deep Patch for fills up to 1 1/2inches in a single pour. Since this product dries to a walkable hardness in just 60 minutes, it made it easy for the various crews to move around the busy job site.
Although self-leveling was not initially built into the installation schedule, the presence of birdbaths in the subfloor necessitated it. Sheet vinyl, like that used in Mercy Hospital, is unforgiving of imperfections, so Flooring Systems needed to make up for flooring deflections. TEC Smooth Start Self-Leveling Underlayment allowed Flooring Systems to quickly correct imperfections, as it cures quickly and corrects up to 1 inch in a single pour, or up to 5 inches in a single aggregate.
“TEC Smooth Start is easy to work with and has a strength of 4,000 PSI,” Robinson said. “That strength was important for this hospital, where the subfloor will experience heavy wheel loads from hospital beds and equipment.”
Zickel Flooring opted for another TEC self-leveler, TEC EZ Level Premium Self Leveling Underlayment, to prepare the substrate for large format tile. This fast-curing product is walkable in just two to four hours and accepts tile installation in six hours, which allowed Zickel to quickly install the large-format tile used at Mercy Hospital Joplin.
“We used tile as large as 12 inches by 24 inches. Because of its size, the tile has a tighter surface tolerance,” said Justin Kilmer of Zickel Flooring. “TEC EZ Level helped us make sure the substrate was within its tolerance.”
TEC PerfectFinish allows for floor installation in just 30 to 60 minutes and was the final step in preparing the hospital’s substrate. TEC surface preparation products laid a smooth foundation for easy installation of a variety of materials, including carpet tile, which was installed with TEC Releasable Pressure Sensitive Adhesive. This product is durable, yet releasable, which allows for easy carpet tile replacement in the busy hospital environment.
Tile in the hospital was also installed with TEC products, which help create beautiful, comforting spaces. After waterproofing with fast-drying TEC HydraFlex Waterproofing Crack Isolation Membrane, Zickel Flooring used TEC mortars and grouts to install 24,000-square-feet of floor tile and 60,000 square feet of stone, glass, and tile on walls and columns. They used TEC AccuColor EFX Epoxy Special Effects Grout, which provides the strength and stain and chemical resistance essential for hospitals like Mercy Hospital Joplin.
“TEC HydraFlex dries quickly. It’s a time saver, because we can apply it over three-day-old concrete,” Kilmer said.
For more information about TEC, visit tecspecialty.com.
