Case Studies Foundation Waterproofing Beside a Live Telecom Hub

High Rise Tower

Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Project: Foundation Membrane, New High-Rise Tower
Client: Lifetime Green Coatings

High rise development in cities is constant, and new buildings are often grafted onto the side of older ones. That creates a specific problem for engineers and architects: the old building has finished settling, but the new one starts settling before it is even complete.

This project involved a new high-rise in Calgary, Alberta. The city sits on a bend of the Bow River, with a relatively high water table and a permeable sandstone substrate, which is what the foundations were being built into.

2 weeks Foundation Work Window
24 hrs To Full Handover
20+ yrs Saltwater Tested

The Challenge

Water Ingress Next to a Live Telecommunications Hub

The core requirement was absolute imperviousness to water between the new tower and the older building alongside it. That older structure houses sophisticated telephonic switch gear, and together the pair form a major Western Canadian telecommunications hub.

Any water reaching the foundations or the adjoining walls could have had a catastrophic effect on the telecommunications equipment and wiring.

Movement was the second problem. Settlement was expected, likely measured in millimeters per year, but the coating had to retain flexibility and integrity across that movement for the long term. Conventional epoxy coatings micro-crack very quickly when subjected to physical movement, or to the expansion and contraction caused by temperature swings.

The third constraint was time. There was a two-week window for the foundation work, from the contract being let through to completion and handover.

The Approach

A Coating That Stays Flexible and Re-Bonds to Itself

Lifetime Green Coatings was chosen because it has performed in decades-old applications on ship decks and concrete structures, including high-traffic areas. Saltwater testing has shown no measurable degradation in samples submerged for over 20 years.

The coating permanently retains its flexibility for its entire service life, which directly addresses the expected settlement. It also retains that property for any future remedial work, because it re-bonds to existing Lifetime Green Coatings surfaces.

In this application it had a further advantage: it polymerizes with asphalt, and bonds aggressively even to Teflon in some cases.

Being free of VOCs and completely free of solvents, in content, application, and clean-up, mattered on a live site. There were no toxicity considerations for workers nearby, so no major areas had to be shut down and the schedule for the main construction phase was not compromised.

Why It Works

Sprayed and Handed Over Inside the Two-Week Window

Surface preparation had to leave the substrate suitable for a foundation membrane that would be buried and unreachable afterwards, with no opportunity to revisit it.

The coating was applied by Ener-Spray Services within the two-week foundation work window, and proved compatible with the polyurethane foam and geotextile protective covering used in the foundation build-up.

Tensile Strength	ASTM D412 — 6,000 psi
Compressive Strength	ASTM D695 — 9,400 psi (13,800 psi with quartz)
Elongation	ASTM D412 — 120%
Tear Strength	ASTM D2240 — 330 PLI
Hardness	ASTM D2240 — Shore D 78
Flexibility (1/8" Mandrel)	ASTM D1737 — Pass
Abrasion Resistance (Taber)	ASTM D4060 — 28 mg loss
Gloss	ASTM D523 — 90+
Adhesion (Concrete)	ASTM D4541 — >400 psi (concrete failure), >550 psi primed
Adhesion (Steel)	ASTM D4541 — >2,000 psi
UV Stability	100% UV stable, interior and exterior
Application Temperature	-20°F to 120°F (-29°C to 49°C)
VOC Content	<10 g/l
Food Contact	USDA / FDA certified safe for incidental food contact

Lifetime Green Coatings is engineered for long-lasting performance, with independently tested results across the specifications above.

The Results

Full Handover Within 24 Hours of Spraying

The job was completed on time by Ener-Spray Services, with full handover within 24 hours of the spraying finishing. Typical epoxy coatings often require three to four days to fully cure. No anomalies were reported.

The project marks an important step for Lifetime Green Coatings. It is the first substantial use of the product as a foundation membrane on a major North American multi-story building, on a site with an absolute requirement for foundation envelope integrity, both for the new tower and for the older building immediately adjacent to it.

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High Rise Tower

Water Ingress Next to a Live Telecommunications Hub

A Coating That Stays Flexible and Re-Bonds to Itself

Sprayed and Handed Over Inside the Two-Week Window

Performance Data

Full Handover Within 24 Hours of Spraying