VCT Solutions

 

Vapor Intrusion/Radon Mitigation

A greater awareness of the risks associated with Volatile Organic Compounds and ground gases such as Radon has led to an increasing number of construction projects requiring the use of a suitable protection system to safeguard both the development and its occupants.

Vapor intrusion is a rapidly growing market for consultants, and it pays to stay ahead of the crowd. Traditional vapor intrusion mitigation systems, or “radon” systems, have been around for decades and haven’t changed much in that time. Electric fans need to run continuously to pull enough air through soil below a slab to maintain negative pressures. Expensive gravel beds, collection pipes, liners and blowers are needed to ensure that vacuum is distributed to all points below the slab.

CUPOLEX®Aerated Floors are the modern systems that use open space rather than soil to vent the slab, resulting in highly efficient transmission of vacuum and air flow. Field tests and modeling studies verify that aerated floors are an order of magnitude more effective than traditional slab-on-grade systems, without the need for expensive liners. This means greater protection with less energy, a sustainable and lower cost solution that is in sync with the growing demand for green technologies.

 

Storm Water Management

CUPOLEX® provides cost-effective Storm Water Management solutions to engineers, developers and municipalities that are customized for their site specific needs.

Applications include slowing or reducing volume from your project site, protecting waterways and maintaining storm water quality, or storing water for harvesting or reuse. CUPOLEX® storm water management systems can address all these needs with simple and cost effective concrete forming solutions.

 

Refrigeration/Ground Heave

Frost heave is a term commonly used to describe the displacement of structures caused by ice depositing underneath all or portions of structures operating constantly at low temperatures. Most refrigerated facilities are constructed with a slab-on-grade. In cases where the slab persistently operates below freezing (0°C/32°F), frost from moisture in the soil will form underneath the slab unless some form of heat within or below the slab is provided. If the subslab is not heated, frost heave will not only eventually destroy the slab but also create other significant structural problems within the facility.

A properly designed CUPOLEX® passive or mechanically heated Aerated Concrete Floor will provide sufficient heat to prevent frost formation under the slab; thereby, preventing structural failures while minimizing the parasitic heat gain to the refrigerated space.

 

Sustainable Pavements

All stakeholders in the pavement community are embracing the need to adopt more sustainable practices in all aspects of their work, and are continually seeking the latest technologies to help improve those practices. Practices that include addressing climate change, improve air quality and water quality, provide green jobs, and reduce the carbon footprint of pavements.

In accordance with our firm’s mission to make “Sustainable Building Technologies work to help the industry build a better world,” PONTAROLO ENGINEERING® remains committed with one of its primary field of activity to research and develop new sustainable paving technologies for future generations in the building industry that contribute on the main criteria for a sustainable pavement:

• Minimizing the use of natural resources;
• Reducing energy consumption;
• Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions;
• Limiting pollution (air, water, earth, noise, etc.);
• Improving health, safety and risk prevention; and
• Ensuring a high level of user comfort and safety.

 

Green Roofs

In recent years, cities across the globe have been actively developing more green roofs, which essentially means the top of a house or building that features vegetation planted over a waterproof barrier. The benefits of green roofs go well beyond aesthetic beauty today. Urban roofs can decrease the effects of runoff, purify the air by filtering out pollutants and help moderate the energy needed to maintain the temperature of a building by keeping the roof warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.

Each rooftop is a unique micro climate, with varying factors such as region, height protection from other buildings, wind patterns, freeze/thaw cycle, weather extremes, etc. VCT supplies Green Roof products that contribute to the design of sustainable and durable garden roofs that perform in any roof type site condition.

 

Structural Slab Forming Solutions

Plain non-structurally reinforced Cupolex® slabs can be economically and successfully used for a wide variety of load and site conditions. However soils with very low bearing capacity, high compressibility, or that are highly expansive may require remedial treatment or special slab designs.

Over the past 3 decades, the idea of placing concrete over CUPOLEX® permanent void forms has become an increasingly popular foundation method, not only for site conditions involving challenging soils, but replacing conventional slabs that are not very well known to provide healthy interior environments. Building designers and developers strive to assure better results and protect themselves and their product from criticism and failure. They are constantly facing challenges when designing and installing slabs on ground including the following:

• Structural failure
• Slab curling and shrinkage,
• Reducing the environmental impact of building,
• Lowering building costs and the carbon footprint,
• Reduce the cycle time of building,
• Post construction settlement of soil below structures
• Reduce aggregate use and the use of importing and engineering fill
• Seeking alternative design to not using light weight fill or EPS fill to reduce dead loads on structures
• Moisture and mold prevention,
• Expansive and challenging soil conditions,
• Accumulating points for LEED certification.

Both slab on grade and ribbed structural slabs on grade can be created using Cupolex. There are significant cost savings to the builder and owner by using the CUPOLEX® flooring formwork in the design of concrete slabs for residential, industrial, commercial and institutional applications in sites with structural site challenges and contaminated and low bearing soil conditions.

Traditional old fashioned void forming systems for in-situ ground slabs and beams, sub slab gravel drainage layers, and light weight or imported engineered fill are increasingly being replaced by Cupolex, a quicker and less labor intensive alternative. A trend that is encouraged by the emphasis on fast track build programs, lowering construction costs and a shortage of skilled tradesmen. Reacting to this trend, Cupolex has developed a complete design and supply service for an extensive range of slab formwork systems.