SITUATION:
In consultation with Westfield Design & Construct, Terrazzo Australian Marble engaged Ardex to investigate different options for the retiling of the existing centre of the Westfield Shopping Centre at Miranda, in Sydney’s south.
The main criteria when looking at the different options were speed of curing for the screed and tiling adhesive as work had to be completed at night & the centre to be ready in the morning for minimal disruption to walkways.
A traditional sand & cement screed was compared against the ARDEX A38 Rapid set screed to view what the best solution for was the project.
SOLUTION:
The ARDEX A38 Rapid set screed was chosen to rescreed the walkways following removal of existing tiles and screed. Having the ability to accept heavy foot traffic within 8 hours of installation, the A38 screed system ensured strict timeframes were met during the installation of this critical part of the system.
Achieving a compressive strength of 35 MPa and being dimensionally stable, the A38 ensures the base of the tiling system contains the perfect mix of strength and flexibility. With the high compressive strength, scissor lifts can be employed directly on the screeded floor, something which is difficult to do with traditional sand & cement screed. The A38/S16 system also complies with low VOC emission requirements which were also a consideration for this project.
As Ardex are committed to ensuring contractors are exposed to high quality training in the installation of their products, Ardex conducted on site training of the A38 rapid set screed at Terrazzo Australian Marbles headquarters, with representatives from Terrazzo Australian Marble & Westfield attending.
The following night the areas containing the A38 screed were cleaned and prepared for the ARDEX S16 Rapid Hardening and Rapid Drying Tile and Natural Stone Adhesive to install the Terrazzo tiles and natural stone.
Besides being ideal for installing natural stone susceptible to moisture sensitivity, the main benefit of using this adhesive on the project is the curing time and the ability for traffic to walk on the flooring, 2-3 hours after installation in suitable conditions. This allowed large areas to be tiled overnight and made ready for trading each morning with no disruption to shoppers. As with the A38 screed, the S16 tile and natural stone adhesive’s low VOC rating meets Green Building Council of Australia Green Star IEQ-13 requirements.
Although the system was only originally specified on the existing shopping centre flooring, Westfield were so happy with the performance of the products and the response from Ardex to ensure the project ran smoothly, they specified the system on the new areas of the shopping centre being installed by Saba Brothers Tiling. In all, the project totalled approximately 12000m2.
PARTICIPANTS:
Builder: Westfield Design & Construct
Contractor: Terrazzo Australia Marble (Existing areas); Saba Tiling (New areas)