Achieving Superior Floor Protection through State-of-the-Art Vapor Barrier Technology.
Project Owner: Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, Washington D.C.
Architect: Kohn Pederson Fox Associates, New York, NY
Waterproofing Consultant: Brent Anderson Associates, Inc. Fridley, MN
Contractor: Facchina Construction Company, Inv. La Plata, MD
Installer: Prospect Proofing Company, Sterling, VA
Product: Barrier-Bac, VBC-350, 31 mil, composite Class A Vapor Barrier
Background
The Tanger Outlet Center Westgate features about 85 brand-name stores in an open air mall on 38 acres located at loop 101 and Glendale Avenue in Glendale, AZ. The 328,000 square foot outlet center is oriented toward pedestrians, with landscaped courtyards and a park like atmosphere. Typical Tanger Outlet Centers feature popular brands such as Banana Republic, Coach, Gap, Reebok and Tommy Hilfiger.
Conditions
With annual customer traffic at the Tanger Outlet Center Westgate estimated at 5 to 6 million visitors, the project architect, Adams & Associates, located in Mooresville, NC, designed the facility with heavy foot traffic in mind.
As the floor coverings throughout the outlet center vary from store to store, including moisture sensitive materials such as epoxy, engineered hardwood plank, terrazzo, VCT tiles and polished concrete, and others, the designers decided to install a state-of-the-art moisture vapor barrier membrane beneath the concrete slab-on-grade.
How it works
The vapor barrier for flooring selected for the new Tanger Outlet Westgate, is Barrier-Bac VB-350, 16 mil vapor barrier. Barrier-Bac VB-350 vapor barrier membrane has extremely low water vapor permeance properties and is designed to restrict water vapor moisture from migrating through the concrete slab-on-grade, from the subgrade, and causing damage to moisture sensitive floor coverings. Barrier-Bac VB-350 also has high puncture and tensile strength, to be tough enough to withstand typical job site traffic, thereby reducing the risk of vapor barrier damage prior to concrete pouring.
Barrier-Bac, an operating unit of the Inteplast Group, Ltd., manufactures VB-350 vapor barrier at its ISO certified manufacturing facility located in Lolita, TX..
Conclusion
Barrier-Bac VB-350 vapor barrier membrane has successfully protected sensitive flooring systems for over 15 years and has been installed beneath over 200 million square feet of concrete slab-on-grade in the USA.
