A.B.E. Construction Chemicals' VIP Polyurea coatings have been applied as waterproofing to commercial property parking decks in the Free State and KZN. A.B.E. - part of the Chryso Southern Africa Group - holds an exclusive agreement with Voelkel  Industrie Produkte (VIP) in Germany for the local distribution of the Munich company's acclaimed range of protective coatings and joint fillers which have recently been applied to the parking decks of the Rockville Shopping Centre in Mangaung, Bloemfontein; and also at Umlazi Mega City, south west of Durban.

Cynthia Nel, a.b.e. Branch Manager in Bloemfontein, says VIP Quick Prime and VIP Quick Spray Industrial Polyurea coatings were applied over an area of about 1 400m2 of the parking deck at the new Rockville Shopping Centre, in Rocklands, Mangaung by approved A.B.E. applicators, Diamond Linings. The area is used for loading and off-loading by the mainly wholesale operations in the complex serviced by heavy truck deliveries daily.

Cynthia says the concrete floated deck was not initially designed to be an open parking deck and because it would not have been able to accommodate the weight of sand and pavers after traditional torch-on waterproofing,  it was decided to opt for a Polyurea waterproofing option. "Diamond Linings provided slip joints on the surface before applying the VIP Quick Prime polyurethane water barrier by roller prior to the application of a top coat of grey VIP Quick Spray Industrial by means of a high pressure applicator," she states.

VIP Quick Spray Industrial is a fast-setting, 100% pure Polyurea  elastomer coating with an intricate pore density that provides excellent corrosion protection to all substrates. "The product reacts within seconds and once cured, leaves a flexible and durable rough surface. There were severe time constraints for the Polyurea application, but Diamond Linings managed to prepare the area and apply the product in just five days. The deck was ready for traffic within a few hours afterwards," Cynthia adds. Noel Abendroth, a.b.e. Polyurea Coatings Division Manager based in Boksburg, and a.b.e. Bloemfontein Technical Sales Consultant, Crouzer Scholtz, were on site to provide a supervisory and consulting service.

Rockwell Shopping Centre, owned by Miles of Meat, was built by main contractor, EFS Construction. Movoo & De Wet Consulting of Bloemfontein designed and managed the project. Noel Abendroth says for the Umlazi Mega City extensions, VIP Polyurea Quickseal PP350 was applied to seal the expansion joints over a concrete surface area of about 1 200m2 by another long-standing a.b.e. approved applicator, Thermoseal, which has just opened operations in KZN. The protective coating was also applied to the parking deck's flower boxes.

The tribal-owned Umlazi Mega City is currently undergoing a R375 million upgrade, that will see over 26000m2 of retail space added to the site, taking the total lettable area to almost double the existing size. The expansion includes increasing the parking facilities to 1304 bays.

VIP QuickSeal PP 350 is a spray-applied, instant curing 100% pure Polyurea, flexible membrane that can be built to any thickness in one application, in virtually all environmental conditions. Very cold, very hot or even very humid environments will not affect curing time or physical performance of VIP QuickSeal PP350. VIP QuickSeal PP350 provides flexible, seamless, hard-wearing substrate protection for a wide range of substrates. Its rapid spray application and instant curing characteristics enable shorter shutdown times than traditional glue.

Among the product's features are:
*  Extremely fast application time;
*  Tack free in seconds – it can be walked on within minutes;
*  High elongation at break;
*  No need for protector boards during back filling; and 
*  High abrasion resistance and excellent thermal stability.