At the end of 2019, the combination of Croonwolter&dros and Hollandia Services began renovating all provincial locks and movable bridges on behalf of the Province of Flevoland. SealteQ is carrying out the conservation work on the various objects for the 'Major Maintenance of Bridges and Locks' program on behalf of the contractor combination. One of the objects SealteQ is conserving is the Urkersluis. After the completion of the conservation work, the Urkersluis will be ready for years to come.
Conservation work at Urker Lock
What have we done?
Several elements of the Urkersluis needed to be conserved. This includes the railing, the emergency door structure, touching up the underside of the bridge deck, and the bicycle bridge deck. In total, it involved approximately 300 meters of fencing. The process began with cleaning and derusting all parts. Everything was then conserved. The entire fencing was conserved. Everything was cleaned with high pressure using a steam cleaner. Subsequently, everything was derusted and completely sanded. A primer was then applied. After the primer layer, the entire fencing was coated with an intermediate layer of Sigmacover 350. Finally, the bridge was finished with Sigmacover 550 h and received its final color (RAL 9003). All work was documented in reports. The so-called DewCheck was also performed multiple times. With the DewCheck, you monitor the steel and ambient temperature, humidity, and dew point, among other things.
Dew Point
When working with surface treatments, it is important to have insight into the dew point values. In unfavorable, mainly humid conditions, water vapor can condense on the object. Moisture can adversely affect paint adhesion and the quality of the freshly blasted coating (formation of flash rust). During the conservation work on the Urkersluis, the standard for maintaining the dew point was continuously met. The execution work took place in dry weather. There were no moisture problems.
Risks
At the start of the execution, the tasks were thoroughly reviewed and discussed. It was discussed again whether there are risks or if they could arise. During the work on the Urkersluis, wearing a life jacket was mandatory. You work above water and must be prepared for possible emergencies for this reason. A scaffold was placed at the lock’s emergency door. This way, the work could be carried out safely. Since work is done above the water, pontoons were placed to catch any contamination.
Completion
In week 17, the conservation work on the Urkersluis was completed. The completion took place according to the schedule.
More Information?
Would you like to know more about steel conservation by the SealteQ Group? Please contact us for more information. SealteQ has the capability to conserve on-site and also has 3 covered blasting cabins in the Netherlands.