Rapid Repairs for a State Liquor Warehouse in Wyoming
Problem
In 2012, the State of Wyoming purchased a warehouse for use as a storage and distribution hub for Wyoming’s statewide liquor inventory. Shortly after purchase, officials installed new 15-foot tall shelving units to store over $18 million worth of liquor inventory. Soon after the liquor inventory was stocked, however, warehouse managers noticed cracks developing and growing in the floor slab. The topple hazard from uneven shelving and the trip hazards created by uneven floor slabs were huge safety concerns for employees. The Wyoming liquor warehouse facility represented a significant capital investment for the state, and improvements to the facility in the form of additional storage capacity meant that the project had already cost the taxpayers dearly. State officials needed a solution that wouldn’t break a budget already worn thin throughout the warehouse conversion. Additionally, with new and existing cracks growing before their eyes, officials knew that whatever solution they picked had to be reliable and most of all, fast. State officials called on URETEK to evaluate the problem and propose a solution.
Analysis
After a site visit by URETEK personnel, test results showed numerous areas of differential settlement in the slab, unraveling joints in several locations, and growing cracks in the concrete slab ranging from hairline to ¼-inch in width. The additional weight from the liquor inventory combined with the constant pounding and vibration from forklift traffic had expedited the weakening of the subbase and floors. The URETEK Deep Injection® (UDI) process was proposed as a rapid repair for the warehouse slab and underlying soils.
Solution
URETEK technicians mobilized to make the warehouse slab repairs. They used UDI at various depths, but mostly targeted the weakest areas in the upper ten feet to provide direct support to the warehouse slab.
Result
URETEK’s technicians successfully repaired and stabilized the 12,000 ft2 warehouse floor in only 3 ½ days using the UDI process. UDI consolidated the weak soil, filled voids, and increased the bearing capacity of the concrete slabs. URETEK saved the state of Wyoming time and money and kept their new liquor warehouse up and running without incident. Warehouse managers were happy with the solution, and to date there have been no more issues with the warehouse slab.
URETEK Deep Injection® (UDI)
Widely referenced throughout our industry, UDI involves the injection of structural polymer into base and subgrade soils to increase the load bearing capacity. This is achieved by injecting the polymer through small holes drilled directly through the pavement structure to depths determined by site-specific analysis. Our URETEK 486 Star® material flows easily into voids and weak zones within the soil mass below. Through a controlled chemical reaction, the expanding polymer compacts surrounding soils and applies a controlled pressure on targeted areas of the affected pavement above. If needed, a multi-injection design plan is utilized to gently return the pavement to its original grade. The composite material quickly cures into a strong, dimensionally stable, and water-resistant geo-material, providing years of reliable service.
URETEK 486 Star®
URETEK 486 Star® polymer is a two-component, high-density, expanding thermoset polyurethane system. It was developed to be the ideal solution for under-sealing, void filling, lifting of settled pavement, stabilization and stiffening of weak soils, and for encapsulating and sealing buried infrastructure. URETEK 486 Star® is environmentally inert, non-toxic, and resists underground water erosion or weakening due to its industry-leading hydrophobic properties.
