Project: Geroa, NSW
Contractor: ABLOCK Builders
Site Supervisor: Wes Lochrin
Site Foreman: Zac O’Brien

We all want to live on the beach or a headland and have those awesome ocean views but none of us want issues like water ingress to our basements. So this was one of the issues that builder Wes Lochrin fom Ablock Builders was seeking solutions to.

Upon consulting with Actech, he decided to use Besealed Polybar to seal the joint between the slab and walls. Furthermore, AB-Lock Builders also decided to to use a combination of Besealed Zbar Connectors and UFOs on the FRP Tielock Bars, to stop water ingress along the soil nailing bars, that were anchored into the basalt rocks.

The site foreman, Zac O’Brien, had never previously used this system before and was understandably a little apprehensive at first. He believed that by tying the Besealed Connector onto the Tielock FRP might suffice.

However, he soon realized the workings of the Besealed Sealing UFO. The UFO rubber ring works close to the connector and both together operate as a Z-Bar Water Barrier. Furthermore, it also has the swellable properties of the Polybar.

Polybar is a an rubber hydrophyllic strip which is an alternative to the popular Hydrotite. Unlike Hydrotite, Polybar is 100% expansive rubber so can be more easily mechanically fastened to the previous concrete pour. If unconstraned, Polybar can expand 400% – but when encapsulated in the concrete, Polybar will create a swelling pressure to seal the joint upon the presence of moisture.

FRP Tielock is an alternative to metal Z- bars which doesn’t corrode yet has similar tensile properties to Z-bar so was able to be used to help restraint the formwork of the basment wall to the bored pieres/shotcrete walls.

The BeSealed Zbar Connectors and UFOs work on a Z-bar or Tielock bar as a replacement for a a traditional Z-bar water barrier. It has the benefits of a physical barrier, but also has the chemically expansive properties of Polybar, so any moisture that tries to travel along the Z-bar/Tielock, the UFO and Zbar Connector can create a swelling pressing to stop the moisture from passing along the bar.

The following 2 pictures below depict the installation of the Besealed UFO and Connector working together with Tielock FRP.

The picture below depicts the installation of the Besealed Polybar+ on site.