Expansion Joints at EMC Corporate get EMSEAL DSM SYSTEM Retrofit

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Structural Expansion Joints and Joint Sealants by EMSEAL
Watertight by Design Since 1959

Talk to our Tech Team:
1-800-526-8365 -- 508-836-0280 -- techinfo@emseal.com -- Fax: 508-836-0281

Last modified: March 12, 2010

DSM Installation Sequence at EMC Corporation:
(Click images to enlarge).

EMSEAL DSM Install--Apply epoxy to joint face.

Epoxy supplied by EMSEAL is installed onto joint face. The glove method is a rapid production alternative to using a margin trowell.

EMSEAL DSM Install--Cut shrink wrap on hardboard.

Meanwhile another crew member opens a stick of DSM by cutting on the hardboard packing to release the shrink-wrap.

EMSEAL DSM Install--Apply epoxy to foam.

Epoxy is applied to the lower 3/4 of the DSM foam.

EMSEAL DSM Install--Install first stick.

The stick is eased into the joint opening leaving the end to be joined sitting out above the deck surface.

Using a bulk gun and the sausages shipped with the DSM SYSTEM, silicone is applied across the silicone bellows face on the end of the stick.

By lowering the bottom of the stick into the joint, it is checked for fit. If not snug enough to hold its own weight, the material is left alongside the joint to expand a bit further. While this is happening another stick can be opened, epoxied and prepped.

When expanded enough to support its weight, the stick is inserted and the join made. The rest of the stick is pushed firmly towards the join. This motion actually compresses the stick lengthwise further ensuring a tight join.

EMSEAL DSM Install--Push material into joint.

The middle portion of the stick is eased down to its finished height just below the deck surface. Note that the join is still proud of the deck.

EMSEAL DSM Install--Press join to finished height.

Finally, the join is pressed into the joint to the finished height. This final compression of the join ensures that it is in compression and a tight fit.

EMSEAL DSM Install--Tool away excess silicone.

Excess silicone that squeezes out of the join is tooled away to ensure that the bellows is not constrained.

EMSEAL DSM Install--Inject and tool sealant bands.

Silicone sealant bands are injected between the bellows, foam and concrete. The excess silicone that squeezes out is tooled into a corner bead.

Duct-tape masking is removed.

EMSEAL DSM Install: Finished installation.

Installation is complete.

EMC² Corporation Gets Parking Deck "Software" Upgrade
(Retrofit 2007)

Hopkinton, MA--The unique performance capabilities of EMSEAL's DSM SYSTEM have given data-storage company EMC² Corporation a much needed upgrade in the expansion joints of their employee parking deck.

EMSEAL's DSM SYSTEM provided a rapid-turnaround fix for resealing the joints.

(Bond-line failure of extruded, inflated, seal was typical after only two seasonal cycles).		Failed "inflated-thermoset-rubber" expansion joint seals were threatening to shorten the service life of the employee parking deck at EMC²'s corporate headquarters in Hopkinton, MA. When joints fail, leaks are an annoyance and can also result in unsafe ice-patches on affected lower decks. Just as concerning however is the deterioration of the concrete structure as the result of allowing de-icing salt laden water to penetrate to rebar causing corrosion and spalling.

It is not unusual to see failure of extruded, joint-face-adhered systems during extension movement. This is because joints in decks are rarely uniform in width along their length, and because adhesives are weakest tension. Extruded joint systems are sized assuming that joints are uniform in width. They also rely on adhesives in tension to pull the seal open as joints open up at low temperature. Where joints are wider than the average joint size for which the extruded seal is sized, or where the seal goes into tension at low temperatures after the rubber has suffered compression set at high temperatures, the tension on the adhesive results in bond line failure. By contrast, the DSM SYSTEM is manufactured at a dimension more than twice the intended joint opening. It is compressed to less than the joint size and held at this dimension in its packaging. When released from its packaging, the material gradually opens. The rate of opening allows time to apply an epoxy to the foam and to get the material into the joint. Once locked between the substrates, the DSM material continues to expand as it attempts to recover to its full expanded dimension. This means that a backpressure minimizes the tension on the bond line between the foam backing and the substrate while the factory-formed silicone bellows is never in tension.

(DSM SYSTEM is supplied in sizes to suit field-measurements and with epoxy and silicone sausages needed for installation).		The DSM SYSTEM from EMSEAL is supplied in two meter (6.56 LF) lengths. While joining these lengths together is sometimes criticized, it is actually this feature that makes the product uniquely able to address inevitable variations in joint size. For EMC², the material was supplied in four different sizes to suit the field-measured joint variations found by the contractor on this job.
In addition to the DSM silicone-coated foam sticks, the "system" is shipped with EMSEAL 820 epoxy, and sausages of silicone for the field-injection of sealant bands and for joining the lengths of material together.

		With the substrates prepped with hydro-blasting, the system was ready to be installed according to the sequence illustrated in the inset (at left). The finished installation addressed deck-to-wall conditions, ...

		...deck-to-deck conditions subject to normal car traffic, pedestrians, and ...
		... SUV traffic as well.
The employee parking deck now joins the rest of EMC²'s corporate campus in being sealed with an EMSEAL precompressed foam technology. At original construction, the structural joints in the main building utilized all of the unique features of EMSEAL's COLORSEAL technology:		(Click to enlarge in order to see the color-switching used to minimize the visual impact of the structural expansion joints at the center of the above photo).
In all the joints the unique ability to color change ensured that the joint seal blended with the changes from brick to precast; the thermal insulation value of the COLORSEAL provides an R-value of nearly 7 in these joints; the non-invasive anchoring facilitated an efficient installation while ensuring that brittle masonry and concrete, and sensitive aluminum mullion substrates are not violated with screws;
(Structural expansion joints at inside corner utilize unique features of EMSEAL COLORSEAL).		and at inside corners, the self-anchoring feature ensured proper securing of the system that would have been impossible because of the inability to access the corner with drills if, for example, a rubber-and-rail strip seal type system had been specified. EMSEAL DSM SYSTEM and COLORSEAL products are the only technologies of their kind that are totally free of wax or asphalt compounds. Consequently there are no equals available with their proven combination of high-temperature flexibility and stability, as well as low-temperature flexibility.
Discerning buyers choose EMC² data storage and server solutions in order to be confident their choice will meet the demands of their business now and in the future. For these same reasons, architects, engineers, building owners and construction professionals choose and recommend EMSEAL.