Historic Memorial Union Gets New Life with Polyurethane Foam
With its beautiful Gothic architecture and bell tower, the Memorial Union at the University of Missouri has unfortunately been slowly deteriorating. This iconic building was built to honor the 117 Mizzou alumni who died in WWI. Due to soil erosion and severe dry conditions, voids, and cavities formed beneath the surface. In turn, this caused the concrete slab to become uneven, becoming a significant threat to everything in its path.
Determining a Solution for Memorial Union
A team of engineers, with structural design and environmental engineering experience, inspected the damage. They came to the conclusion that polyurethane foam would be more effective as opposed to using mudjacking. NCFI’s TerraThane Geotech foam system, the best in the spray foam industry, was used to repair the settlement. The area consisted of 1,200 sq. ft under the offices of the buildings and 1,500 lbs of TerraThane was injected into the surface. Unlike mudjacking, which uses holes around 2-3″ in diameter, 5/8 inch holes were drilled into the surface without creating a mess. The process was quick, easy, effective, and didn’t require the building to be shut down during repairs. All of these factors played a major role in choosing polyurethane foam over traditional methods. Polyurethane foam fixed all soil issues without creating a burden on the soil. This makes polyurethane foam a permanent solution for concrete leveling.
In conclusion, TerraThane costs 60% less than concrete replacement so it was the best choice for concrete leveling. Mark Whitehead, an experienced engineer, commented that “polyurethane played a major role in saving a building so important to the hundreds of thousands of Mizzou alums and future Tigers.”
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