Flowcrete Americas has been working alongside the Karis Support Society, which has opened a new, 36 bed rehabilitation facility for women with addictions and mental health conditions in Kelowna, BC.
The facility, which cost between C$7 and C$8 million, features shared kitchen, dining and living areas and is the first of several housing complexes to open on the city’s Central Green site.
On the building’s third story is a 1,200 foot outdoor deck, which provides residents with a safe and pleasant outdoor space. This part of the facility required a flooring system that would maintain an easily cleanable, anti-slip, seamless and attractive surface despite constant exposure to British Columbia’s often inclement weather.
Flowcrete Americas’ fast cure, methyl methacrylate (MMA) enhanced deck coating system Deckshield Rapide ED was chosen to meet the demand. The building’s designers particularly liked the fact that this system is repairable and bonds to itself, so that there is no need to remove the surface if the substrate cracks.
Waterproofing the Deck
Two months before the finish was due to be applied the flooring contractor coated around the perimeter of the floor on the vertical surfaces and a couple of inches onto the deck’s surface. Styrofoam insulation and stucco could then be installed on the walls, giving the deck a completely waterproof surface that ran up and behind the wall. This method also improved the floor’s aesthetics, as anyone on the platform would see a flaked finish along the join between the floor and the wall instead of concrete.
Fast Cure Floor Solves Application Dilemma
The layout of the building presented the application team with a challenge, as the balcony’s only point of access was a glass door to the hallway, which made it difficult to set up a mixing and staging area.
To overcome this problem, the application team mixed the sealers and body coat on the deck for as long as possible by priming and coating a small area in front of the door and then working on that once it had cured. From this point the team could make their way across the floor area, only having to move into the hallway to carry out the mixing process for a short period of time.
The fast cure formulation of Deckshield Rapide ED allowed for this technique to be employed, as it is able to fully cure in under two hours instead of the days or even weeks that traditional polymer flooring solutions take.
About Karis Support Society
Local philanthropists Donara Krysko and her husband Dave Krysko founded the Karis Support Society when they noticed a gap in the social service landscape for women with addictions and mental health issues. Dave Krysko previously co-founded the popular online game Club Penguin.
