Top Story: More Than Mortar

The wide scope of MAPEI's construction solutions might surprise you

Overview: With 11 product lines, MAPEI provides best-in-class system solutions for for sports flooring installations, underground construction and the marine industry, as well as offering cement additives and admixtures for concrete.

MAPEI is renowned for its top-selling grouts, mortars and adhesives. In fact, the company is so well-known for its flooring solutions, they can overshadow its other product lines. In addition to Tile and Stone Installation Systems (TSIS) and Floor Covering Installation Systems (FCIS), MAPEI offers Products for Sports Flooring, Concrete Restoration Systems (CRS), Waterproofing Systems, Products for Structural Strengthening, Products for Wood Flooring, Admixtures for Concrete, Products for Underground Construction (UTT), Cement Additives, and Products for the Marine Industry.

While the more familiar TSIS and FCIS lines offer interior and exterior protection for floors (and in some cases, walls), the other lines offer a wide range of protective solutions too.

PRODUCTS FOR SPORTS FLOORING

An exciting case study for this line can be found in this issue on pages 36-38. The installation of Mapesoil™ 100 and Ultrabond® Turf PU 1K at a Topgolf facility in Texas marked an important turning point for this product line in the United States. Not only was this the first large installation of Mapesoil 100 in the United States (195,800 lbs. or 88 813 kg of Mapesoil 100 applied over 168,000 sq. ft. or 15 608 m²), but also it was the most unusual thus far with the substrate’s undulations mimicking the hills and fairways of a golf course. In addition to synthetic turf and products for soil stabilization, this line also includes products for rubber sports flooring, such as for tennis and basketball courts.

CONCRETE RESTORATION SYSTEMS

Pages 9-11 provide an award-winning CRS project reference. The renovation of the high-traffic flooring at the Canadian Science and Technology Museum in Ontario was such a success that it won the award for Public Buildings and Urban Design in MAPEI’s internal International Reference Projects Grand Prix. But the CRS line provides more than the concrete repair products used in this project. Interacting with state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) and facility managers alike, this product line spans a full spectrum of solutions – from bridges to stadiums to public facilities like museums. This line also offers coatings and sealers, decorative toppings, waterproofing systems, structural strengthening
systems, and admixtures for concrete among other product solutions.

WATERPROOFING SYSTEMS

MAPEI offers a wide variety of waterproofing systems including bentonite clay membranes and self-adhering sheet membranes. The newest addition to its waterproofing product line is an exciting one: Planiseal® CR1 cold-fluid-applied waterproofing membrane. Fast-curing, single component and 100%-solids, this membrane is applied like a coating and contains virtually no VOCs. This means that, unlike many waterproofing systems, Planiseal CR1 can be applied in and around occupied spaces.

PRODUCTS FOR STRUCTURAL STRENGTHENING

In addition to the Elastocolor ® coatings line that was featured in Realtà MAPEI North America (Issue 29) as lending customized aesthetic beauty to the famed Philadelphia Metropolitan Opera House, MAPEI’s Products for Structural Strengthening line offers several products to provide varying degrees of structural strength. There are epoxy adhesives, concrete repair mortars, laminate wraps, glass fiber wraps and carbon fiber wraps – all of which can be custom-engineered by MAPEI to meet specific job requirements. For example, MAPEI’s fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) products were specified in combination with CRS products to preserve the substantially corroded JEA Northside Generating Station bridge in Jacksonville, FL.

ADMIXTURES FOR CONCRETE

MAPEI’s admixtures line offers industry-leading products including water reducers, retarders, accelerators, superplasticizers, shrinkage reducers, corrosion inhibitors, viscosity-modifying agents, fiber reinforcement and air-entraining agents. When added to concrete, these products play vital roles in accelerating/decreasing curing rates and strengthening the concrete. They are the crucial “secret ingredients” hidden in the midst of the final built results. Examples of projects featuring MAPEI’s concrete admixtures? How about U.S. Bank Stadium (the home of the Minnesota Vikings), the concrete bases of a large wind-generation farm in Texas, and a tunnel and runway at Missouri’s Lambert Airport, to name a few. For the science behind how admixtures work, turn to pages 26-29.

PRODUCTS FOR UNDERGROUND CONSTRUCTION (UTT)

This category covers both the products themselves and the team that backs them up. MAPEI is unique in offering underground technology construction products as well as a team of professionals dedicated to understanding the latest underground technology and delivering that skill set to its clients. Not only does MAPEI have a certified shotcrete instructor (see the article “Underground Spirits” in Realtà MAPEI North America, Issue 28) on the team, the team also pools its international knowledge base as it did on the “rock crusher” project highlighted in this issue on pages 23-25. Whether it is a tunnel or a mine – from the Rome Metro’s C Line running directly past the Colosseum, to the Edmonton Tunnel in Canada, to mines on Texan plains – MAPEI’s UTT group and product
solutions have provided answers to the most difficult underground problems.

CEMENT ADDITIVES (C-ADD)

MAPEI’s Cement Additives Division provides cutting-edge, sustainable technologies for the cement industry. The line offers grinding aids, packset inhibitors, strength enhancers, grinding aids specifically designed for Portland cements, and air-entraining/waterproofing additives for masonry cements. Goals of C-ADD technology include reducing CO₂ and
optimizing setting time.

PRODUCTS FOR THE MARINE INDUSTRY

This line conjures up images of a vacation, but the most recent project reference proves that its products must withstand quite a beating (see the article “Ship Rescue” in Realtà MAPEI North America, Issue 28). Salt is one of the most corrosive elements, and cruise ships are constantly exposed to it — not only below the waterline, but also above it with salt air and sea spray. Add to this the traffic wear of thousands of passenger feet and the constant food, soda, and alcohol spills. It’s clear that the ships themselves — and the products that protect them — must look beautiful while withstanding tremendous abuse. This is the specialty of MAPEI’s Products for the Marine Industry, designed for durability, safety, beauty and slip resistance. Some of them even glow. These products help to ensure that those who sail or cruise will have a carefree and corrosionfree vacation.

While MAPEI is proud of its mortars and grouts, it is proud to offer so much more. It isn’t far-fetched to say that if there is a challenge, MAPEI has a solution.

Top Story: More Than Mortar

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