Type of Application
Renovation

Location
Mississippi - Biloxi

Product(s)
LEVELROCK SLC™ 400
LEVELROCK SLC™ 300

LEVELROCK Applicator
Tekrete, Inc.

Floor Systems Company Does Its Part to Help the Mississippi Coast Coliseum & Convention Center Reopen after Hurricane Katrina

When Guild Hardy Architects PA, Biloxi, Mississippi, was named executive architect for the renovation of Biloxi's Mississippi Coast Coliseum & Convention Center, the firm drew up plans for a 240,000-square-foot expansion. All was going well until Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005.

"This facility went into the Gulf, or, I should say, the Gulf came into it - it took on five feet of water," said Joey Crain, Project Architect, Guild Hardy Architects.

Just like that, the tides of change turned the Coliseum & Convention Center's expansion project into a massive and messy clean-up effort. "We had jellyfish in the hockey rink," said Crain, whose firm put design work on hold to oversee repairs. Within a year, helpful hands removed aquatic infiltrations, installed doors, replaced the facility's electrical systems and refurbished gypsum walls marred by salt water.

Repairs ended recently, and the expansion project is ready to begin shortly. But before entering full-phase construction, the Coliseum & Convention Center is putting on several events, and rapid installation of a primary-wear floor system was a high priority.

"We needed a safe, clean floor for the interim," said Crain. "Afterwards there will be construction, so the floor has to take a beating."

The solution: A poured, premium-engineered cementitious flooring system.

"We've Got 10 Days"

Floor systems are critical to commercial renovation projects. But until recently, flooring contractors haven't had the means to pour affordable wear-resistant floors all that speedily.

"We've got 10 days to shot blast and install 66,500 square feet of new floors," said Ray Steveson, co-owner of Tekcrete Inc., Jefferson, Louisiana, which has the flooring contract at the convention center.

"I've been in concrete construction for 30 years," said Steveson, explaining why he's the right man for the job. "I've done concrete restoration and preservation for 20 years and have some knowledge about what causes concrete to fail. You learn how to prevent this from happening when you repair old concrete."

That's what Coliseum & Convention Center management wants to hear, especially as another hurricane season approaches. After losing its flooring to Katrina - and having seen bonding agents break down and a wood dance floor buckle - management is ready for a floor that will last.

Of course, several poured flooring products are on the market, but the architects specified the LEVELROCK SLC™ 400 flooring system, a premium-engineered cementitious product from USG that permits light trade traffic within one to two hours and heavy loads in just a day.

"They wanted a primary-wear surface," said Steveson. "But the main reason they went with the SLC 400 system is for its turnover time."

The flooring offers a compressive strength of 2,700 psi at 24 hours - 4,350 psi at 28 days. Molded cube samples are taken on every pour and sent to USG for compression testing.

Steveson said he has boiled down mixing to simple arithmetic. "Using a scale, we calculated how much water we needed per bag times 12 for a 12-bag mix," he said. "We have a micro-timer on our water tank, and when you hit the button, it pumps for so many seconds, adding the correct amount of water to the mixer. You add 12 bags, hit the button and nobody is guessing."

To confirm that the correct amount of water is used, LEVELROCK applicators also conduct a slump test.

Dividing up the Project

The SLC 400 floor's low profile was also perfect for this job because it's topping an existing subfloor, not replacing it. Tekcrete's installation procedure involves five steps: broom cleaning, shot blasting, priming with two coats, pumping and sealing.

To cover 66,500 square feet, Steveson aimed to pour about 12,000 square feet a day for five days, not counting time needed to prepare surfaces. Steveson's crew used a shot-blasting machine to fire small steel balls on the old surface and remove old mastic remnants and a top layer of concrete. Giving the subfloor a gritty profile helps the flooring system achieve proper adhesion.

"We usually get a certain amount of footage, which is allocated for us to complete in a day, and no other trades are allowed in the area during that time," said Steveson. "This project was different. We had electricians running electricity, HVAC folks running ductwork and insulators, board hangers and finishers all at work. An army of subcontractors was on the job."

A special pour occurred in the Coliseum & Convention Center' old ballroom, where a ruined wood dance floor was ripped out and discarded. Its removal left about a 2-inch-deep pit. To re-elevate the area to the existing floor height, Tekcrete used another LEVELROCK system, the SLC 300 deep fill system, mixing it together with gravel for extra cost savings. The final 1/4 to 5/16 inches was topped with SLC 400 underlayment to give the area a primary wear surface.

"You wouldn't know the old ballroom was there - it's filled in and looks like the rest of the floor," said Steveson.

The architects, general contractor and owner are all very pleased.

"It looks great, and as inexpensive as it was, I like what I see," said Bill Holmes, executive director of the Mississippi Coast Coliseum & Convention Center. "We're going to use it during our construction, until we can put carpet over it. It's supposed to take forklifts, so we'll see how it holds up."

Tekcrete has earned accolades for its work, and Steveson has another feather in his cap.

"I've done 300,000 - and 400,000-square-foot overlays before. So, this wasn't the biggest 'rodeo' I've done," said Steveson. "But this is the biggest 'rodeo' for Tekcrete and USG as far as volume of this product, and it came in right on schedule."