Background Information and Challenge
Department of Fisheries in Washington felt the liner system they had previously installed was inadequate. The project’s location was remote, and getting qualified repair technicians to the site for repairs to their 45 Mil RPE liner was challenging. The pond’s bank also became a safety issue as the liner was slick, and deer would find ways to get over the fence surrounding the pond.
The installation window for the project required the work to be done over two weeks at the beginning of November, when the weather is typically extremely inhospitable with cold temperatures, snow and ice.
Solution
An engineer recommended the owner choose a Bituminous Geomembrane (BGM) that Coletanche manufactured. The geomembrane chosen was extremely durable, resistant to puncture with polyester scrim reinforcement, and can be repaired using a propane torch. After a recent project success on the Roza Irrigation Pond, 1.8 Million Square feet of ES-2 BGM Install, the engineer was confident they had a liner to give the Department of Fisheries everything they were looking for in a liner installation.
Installation
On subgrade prepared by others, Layfield laid out and seamed liner panels, sealed liner to; 3 each concrete openings in the floor, approximately 3’ x 9’ each and 8 each pipe penetrations for pressure relief valves. In addition, the Layfield crew sealed the liner to concrete on two ends of the pond concrete wall and floor using approximately 145’ LF total of batten bar. Layfield provided QA/QC for the work performed.
Results
Layfield’s installation crew did an amazing job at picking up on new installation techniques and working in extremely challenging weather conditions. The liner was installed with snow and water still on the panels. The attention to detail by the Layfield crew ensured we would have many more opportunities to perform installations for Axter Coletanche Bituminous Geomembranes and demonstrated why a quality oriented installation team with expertise in laying Geomembranes was essential to this project’s success.
There is significantly more labor involved in installing a BGM Install, which must be accounted for in the budget. This includes significant time for troweling the molten bitumen and primer coating surfaces to attach the batten bar.
