Project Profile: Canadian Subways
View of Olympic Village Station, a stop on Vancouvers Canada Line subway. The dimpled drain mat at the left tunnel entrance was used to waterproof the bored tunnel going under False Creek. When the jobsite is measured in miles, and the specs call for...
Underslab Retrofits: Sealing Slabs
Concrete slabs are not impervious to water. In fact, given the right environmental conditions, the floor slab can transmit gallons of water into the living space as vapor, and in extreme cases, actually show ponding water. “High moisture levels can...
Summer 2011 News
Basement Technologies, Inc., a basement waterproofing supplier, has opened a new office and warehouse location in Wallingford, Connecticut. While the company has provided services to homeowners and businesses in southern New England for decades, the new facility is in...
Spray-on Barriers for Above-Grade Applications
With increasingly stringent energy codes and concerns about indoor air quality, both residential and commercial building envelopes are becoming tighter. And with construction costs on the rise, manufacturers and installers are looking for ways to provide...
Closed Crawlspace Systems
By Melissa Morton The problems in a house with a crawlspace—mold, wood rot, pests, cold floors, buckling hardwoods—all can be linked back to moisture problems in the crawlspace. The old school of thought of adding more vents to circulate outside air...
Vancouver Library
Among the most iconic buildings in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, is the nine-story Vancouver Public Library (VPL) Central Branch. The library—an otherwise ordinary rectangular box—is surrounded by a free-standing, elliptical, colonnaded wall that...
Waterstops
Mechanical waterstops come in a wide variety of materials, profiles, and sizes. In many cases, concrete structures are only as watertight as the waterstops used in them. Installed in expansion joints, cold joints, and other seams, they’re available in a...
Spring 2011 News
W. R. Meadows has launched a new construction company website. While the basic feel and navigation of the website has remained unchanged, many new features were added during the redesign to give it a more contemporary feel, including more project photos, a product...
Drainage Do’s and Don’ts
Good drainage is much more than membranes. It starts with gutters and downspouts and extends to sprinklers, landscaping, and lot topography. Damp basements aren’t just unpleasant; they can be literally hazardous to your health. On the other hand, a...
A New Look at Ballasted Roofs
When gravel, pavers, or vegetation is used to hold roofing components in place, the result is a ballasted roof. This time-tested technique is receiving a new look from code councils, as recent studies on roof temperature and wind uplift requirements reveal...
