Comprehensive systems and sophisticated solutions

Climatic influences and dynamic and static loads give rise to various forms of damage in multi-storey car parks. Expertise and experience such as that available from MC is in high demand when it comes to ensuring the lasting repair and refurbishment of such structures – as in the case of the “Ratinger Tor” multi-storey car park in Düsseldorf, Germany, and another example in the central Ruhr town of Bochum.
Düsseldorf’s “Ratinger Tor” multi-storey car park exemplifies the high regard in which quality system solutions from MC are held for this kind of repair and refurbishment project. Damage such as reinforcing steel corrosion and high levels of moisture content that endangered both the structural integrity and the service life of the car park meant that extensive repairs were urgently needed.
The main objective was to prevent any further soaking and chloride penetration of exposed structural zones so as to eliminate at least one cause of reinforcing steel corrosion – in which the contributory mechanisms are the depassivating effect of the concrete and the presence of water and oxygen – and to significantly extend the remaining service life of the structure as a multi-storey car park. This decision had to be taken as the total removal of all the damage-causing phenomena would have been virtually impossible, given the size of the structure and the scale of the work involved. The repair work was subject to numerous regulations and requirements. A repair system, tested and approved by the building authorities and offering certified effectiveness, was required for implementation of the work. Because of this, MC product systems had already been included in the tender specification as reference solutions. Given their reliability to satisfy the complex requirements of the protection and repair measures to be applied to a wide range of substrates, numerous MC products were used for this major project. Using injection and PCC concrete replacement systems, fine fillers and mortars, renders, primers and coatings from the MC portfolio, the multi-storey car park underwent comprehensive refurbishment during the period from April 2013 to April 2014 – with the additional impediment that the car park had to be allowed to continue operating.

Clever customisation

A recent project involving a multi-storey car park in the Ruhr town of Bochum provided a stark illustration of the fact that completely unexpected problems can also arise to add to the usual challenges. Car drivers found that they were getting painful electric shocks when they pulled their ticket from the machine at the car park entrance. The machines themselves showed no sign of damage.