With more rainfall in fall than the farmer’s almanac could have predicted, and the colder temperatures fastly approaching as deer hunting season in Wisconsin drew near, the exterior concrete sealing and caulking at ULINE’s new 1 million square foot distribution center and world headquarters in Pleasant Prairie, WI needed to be finished before winter came and the slab wasn’t yet entirely poured out. Thanks to some excellent teamwork and coordination from CG Schmidt, the general contractor, Middleton Construction, the concrete contractor, D&B Industrial Floor Coatings, the caulking and sealing contractor, and most importantly ULINE the owner, creating the expectation and being willing to finance it, the team set off with the goal of completing the task of sealing and caulking the entire 1 million square feet of exterior concrete paving, while not neglecting the interior slab sealing and cleaning.
The sealer was switched from the original water based system Eucoguard Vox by Euclid Chemical to a solvent based silane, Eucoguard 40, allowing the applicators to install down to a concrete temp of 40 degrees F. As a precaution, daily, D&B’s foreman Rick Perry tested the concrete temp to insure compliance with Euclid Chemical’s application instructions, documenting in writing and in photos. In addition, application of Euclid’s Eucoguard 40 IPA, which allows installation down to a concrete temp of 32 degrees F, was completed if the concrete temp dropped down below the 40 degrees F allowable. Work continued on preparation in the rain, cold temps, and through weekends, taking advantage of a few “Indian Summers” and consistently working through weekends and long hours to complete the task at hand. At one point, D&B Industrial had 7 riding 5000# concrete floor scrubbers on the site to handle interior and exterior concrete cleaning and sealing. Additional man hours were spent recutting and blowing dry the concrete joints continuously in order to allow for installation of backer rod and the Dow 890 self leveling silicone joint sealant. Often, the cold temps would force the application to wait until mid day when the sun had risen, warming the slab enough to be in the desired application range. Through dedication of the employees of D&B Industrial, excellent leadership on site, and a good plan, schedule was achieved, resulting in the application of sealer on the majority of the slab, and the majority of the joint filler being placed prior to snow falling.
Challenges on the project included the temperature, coordination with painting contractor and other trades on site, size of the project, manufacture time of the silane IPA, dry time and weather conditions. D&B’s scope for the project included interior floor joint sealing, interior floor sealing and polishing, exterior slab on grade caulking, exterior floor sealing. We are excited to welcome such a wonderful corporate client to their new home in Pleasant Prairie, WI and look forward to seeing ULINE grow and prosper in their new facility.
