VA Richmond International Aiport EMSEAL airport expansion joints

(RIC) Richmond International Airport, Richmond

Virginia

Date: 2004, 2006

Expansion joint covers: Migutrans installed in Richmond International Airport.

Airport Floor Expansion Joints and the Common Law of Business Balance

When Richmond International Airport undertook a major upgrade and expansion in 2008, it joined a growing list of airports that have, or are over time, upgrading their interior floor expansion joints to EMSEAL Migutrans.  Why?  The run-of-the-mill floor expansion joints available from a dozen manufacturers are victims of a race to the bottom of quality.  Driven by price, aluminum grade, extrusion thickness, and anchoring methods have been slowly downgraded.  The result are joints that cannot handle the point-loads of modern building floors.

Migutrans installed in Richmond International Airport.

As nineteenth century observer of society and the construction arts, John Ruskin commented:

“It is unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little.  When you pay too much you lose a little money—that is all.  When you pay too little you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the things it was bought to do.  The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot.  It can’t be done.  If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.”

Airports especially see traffic that induces repeated rolling point loads that reek havoc on lightweight expansion joints.  Migutrans from EMSEAL’s comprehensive selection of durable floor joints, is a heavy-duty, interior floor expansion joint system that provides a smooth rolling and traffic surface, handles heavy loads, and integrates aesthetically into floor finishes.

Migutrans installed in Richmond International Airport.