Welding shed of national monument NDSM renovated

NDSM was a shipyard that existed between 1894 and 1978. The shipyard’s welding hall was the “cathedral” where enormous ship sections were welded together, after which the ship or hull would roll out of the hall onto the slipway we renovated in 2017. The welding hall has now been renovated by SealteQ to accommodate the world’s largest street art museum.

Renovation of the Skylights

The concrete renovation of the welding hall comprised cleaning the concrete frames, manually repairing concrete damage in the roof edges, the end wall frames and the hall’s concrete skylight structures, and preserving the concrete. Because this concerns cultural heritage, the skylight structures were renovated by hand instead of being replaced. First, the skylights were inspected for cracks and loose sections caused by reinforcement corrosion. The localized concrete defects were then sounded, cut and chiseled out beyond the reinforcement. The exposed reinforcement was derusted using needle and chipping hammers. The reinforcement and the concrete substrate were given a cementitious bonding coat, after which the remediated areas were repaired wet-on-wet with a polymer-modified cementitious repair mortar.

Concrete Repairs to the Facade

SealteQ also repaired the concrete roof edge elements and the end wall frames. First, roofing and mortar residues were removed from the roof edge elements using small chipping hammers. Second, the concrete substrate was ground with diamond grinding equipment in a low-dust process. Paint residues were also removed from the exterior frames by high-pressure water jetting. The concrete was then checked for cracks and loose sections resulting from mechanical damage. Major localized defects were repaired in the same way as during the skylight renovation. Minor defects were first primed with an epoxy primer and then repaired with an epoxy mortar.

Preserving the Concrete

After the aforementioned repairs had been carried out, the concrete window frames, facades, roof edge and concrete band were cleaned by high-pressure water jetting. The concrete was then treated with a three-coat KEIM mineral coating system. This mineral coating system is an environmentally friendly coating composed of an aqueous solution, a liquid potassium silicate binder, and fillers and color pigments of mineral origin. This provides a durable solution with a long service life.

Are you interested in the options SealteQ can offer you for facade renovation and concrete preservation? Please feel free to contact one of our locations.