Pile Foundations and Walls

Waterproofing is the second major criteria in the construction following the structural works. Water and moisture may cause corrosion and carbonation of the steel used in the reinforced concrete system which carries a vital risk for the structure. The best way of protecting the structure is foundation and wall waterproofing of the construction. The economic life of the waterproofing system must be as long as the service life of the construction. Low quality materials with relatively less initial cost must strongly be avoided.

OC-Plan® ECB Geomembrane systems have proved their performance world wide in the pile foundation and wall waterproofing works of various types of projects that they were used since the mid 1960's with their long economic lives and very high aging resistant characteristics.

Pile Foundation Waterproofing :

Solving the detail of the piles in pile foundation waterproofing works is a very critical subject requiring certain expertise. Our OC-Plan® ECB Geomembrane systems, our special OC-Plan® ECB Water Stops, our other supportive accessories, and the most important of all the know-how of our company and our certified applicators, we have been solving these details in a very effective and practical way for our customers.

For a perfect waterproof pile foundation application, first the piles must be secured to be watertight. Also the detail of connection for the piles and the geomembrane coming from the foundation is crucial for this water tight system. The ECB Geomembrane coming from the foundation must be welded completely to the OC-Plan® ECB Waterstop which has surrounded each individual pipe. Each pile must also be treated carefully with the correct mortar and construction chemical to secure watertight system.

After the treatment of the piles, the application is very similar to matt foundation waterproofing applications OC-Plan® ECB Geomembranes are applied in single layers by loose laying and seam welding method for the waterproofing of the foundations. First a geotextile layer of 200-300 gr/m2 is loosely layed on the plain concrete. Following the geotextile application, OC-Plan® ECB Geomembrane roll is loosely layed on the geotextile applied surface; then the second roll of the geomembrane is loosely layed near the first geomembrane roll with an overlapping of 10 cm. The overlapped part is welded with double seam method using an automatic hot welding machine. The double seam is tested for 2 min applying 2 bar pressure using a manometer and a visual test is performed on the signal foil (for the 10 series ).

The need for usage of the geotextiles on the geomembrane is decided according to the surface and site conditions and according to the material type. After the geomembrane is protected with a plain concrete application of min 7 cm ( due to the property of the certain types of the geomembrane that it can be fully bonded to fresh cast concrete, there is no requirement for protective screed/concrete layer on the membrane ), scaffolding and reinforcement works may start. It is important to leave an enough portion of the geomembrane coming from the foundation waterproofing in order to continue the welding process for the wall applications.

Wall Waterproofing :

OC-Plan® ECB Geomembrane rolls are partially hanged from the available height of the walls by temporary fixings. The hanged rolls are overlapped to each other with 10 cm. The vertically overlapped part is welded with double seam method using an automatic hot welding machine. The portion of the geomembrane coming from the foundation waterproofing is again welded with double seam method to the geomembranes coming from the wall waterproofing in order to have a continuous watertight system. All the double seams are tested for 2 min applying 2 bar pressure using a manometer and a visual test is performed on the signal foil (for10 series). The wall application continues similarly in phases until the ground surface is reached.

The perimeter fixing of the wall waterproofing must be done around 30 cm above the ground level. The perimeter fixings are applied using aluminum profiles, special screws, PU or similar sealants. When possible ECB roundels can also be used in order to hang the geomembranes. The geomembranes are welded to the ECB roundels using hand welding machines.

NOTES :
OC-Plan® ECB Geomembrane system has special ECB accessories. These are internal and external corners, roof ventilators, roof outlets, water outlets, emergency water outlets, sealing sleeves, cable feeds, ECB laminated metal sheets, etc. and are applied using hand welding machines to the geomembranes.