Product Spotlight: HydroGel
HydroGel is an EPRO product well suited to restoration waterproofing projects. It is a hot, spray-applied polymer rubber gel with exceptional adhesive properties. HydroGel is 99% solid, highly elastomeric, and is used for both pre-and post-applied waterproofing. This product is ideal for restoration projects because of its unique properties.
HydroGel Qualities
HydroGel’s main attributes are:
- Highly adhesive fluid-applied application is very substrate adaptable.
- It conforms well and adheres to challenging substrates common in restoration applications.
- Thanks to its single-component spray and kettle application it is versatile in application and productive.
- It is immediate backfill capable requiring no cure time.
- The material is low in odor and minimally invasive.
HydroGel and restoration waterproofing
Restoration waterproofing is often required at sites where a structure may not have received adequate waterproofing, or even any at all. These projects tend to be challenging not only because of potentially unknown conditions and materials, but because drawings and other information from the original construction may be incomplete – or no longer available. Sometimes it is hard to determine the condition of the structure until it is excavated – and this means that applicators may bid on a project with incomplete information, mostly concerning existing waterproofing and substrate conditions.
Restoration waterproofing projects often include public institutions, hospitals, condo associations, corporate campuses, and repurposed industrial sites. They are often quite invasive with critical schedules, and complicated tie-ins and terminations.
HydroGel is an excellent fit for these kinds of projects. The Northern Stacks project is one example of its successful use for restoration waterproofing.
Northern Stacks
Originally constructed in 1929 to house the boiler room for a manufacturer of firefighting water pumps, the Northern Stacks structure was repurposed during World War II to produce ship guns for the U.S. Navy. Eventually, it was restored and is now home to the Forgotten Star Brewing Company.
Seasoned EPRO Approved Applicator, RAM Construction Services, recommended EPRO’s HydroGel waterproofing system to the GC, Mortenson, because of HydroGel’s many unique restoration waterproofing benefits.
You can read the full case study here. This project was also part of a feature in Applicator Magazine, where we discussed the benefits of polymer rubber gel.