Roof Leak Detection » News

QA Testing

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:21:04 +0000

Are you getting the right service? Is your QA test the right one that is actually proving the waterproofing integrity of the membrane system or are you being issued with a piece of paper that means very little? At Thornton Consulting, with over 20 years testing behind us, we like to think we know a thing or two about this. Please feel free to consult with us if you are in doubt.

No roof leaks at the Olympics

admin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:50:36 +0000

Thornton Consulting has won several contracts for integrity testing of roof membranes and waterproofing systems for the 2012 the London Olympics. These include the main stadium, the velodrome and the Olympic Village, plus the nearby Westfield shopping centre, being built as part of the development.

This is not our first Olympics involvement, however, as we tested the roof to Hotel Arts in Barcelona for the 1992 Games. This was built to house the press corps covering the event.

Still out in front 23 years on!

GLA building, london

admin — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:48:22 +0000

In 2007, a £0.5 million contract was placed to cover the roof of the GLA Building with photovoltaic panels. It was accepted early on that, once these panels were in place, the waterproofing membrane would remain inaccessible for the next 25 years or so, at least.

Thornton Consulting was chosen by architects Foster and Partners to test the waterproofing membrane where it was cut through to form structural posts to take the panels.

It very quickly transpired, however, that just as important was to test the entire area of membrane for damage that might have occurred during this process. Given that conventional electronic processes would not work due to the build-up and slope of the roof, a completely new type of test had to be developed and proved in next to no time. We at Thornton Consulting managed this in just two days, proved it then demonstrated it to the satisfaction of all interested parties over the next week.

The test, which combines a vacuum process with water containing surfactant and special fluorescent markers, is able to identify breaches the size of a pin-hole immediately.

This improves substantially on the electronic test, which relies on a path of water from surface to the deck. In this case, the roof was heavily insulated with hydrophobic (water-repellant) Rockwool boards, which act as a barrier to small quantities of water flowing across them and thus preventing the necessary circuit from being formed.

No leak problems have been reported in the 2 years since. Refer to the article by Nick Hall-Stride of the London Climate Change Agency (in his official report on the project, P11).

Fitness Centre Leaks Resolved

admin — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:26:32 +0000

We recently worked on a very difficult project to locate leaks from a first floor fitness centre into a large ground floor retail store in Hampshire, where the problems had been ongoing for “as long as some senior staff can remember”! With our proven investigative procedures we were able to uncover problems in the waterproofing and drainage system to the shower and steam room areas. Once we had discovered the problems, we were then employed as technical supervisors on remedial works. 100% successful!

Bath Spa was a Millenium project that went wrong and opened 5 years late! This was partly due to serious leaks from the whole steam floor in the fitness centre. We solved that one too! And we were employed to test the new waterproofing system to ensure the problems would not come back.

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