In Kenya, construction chemicals are beginning to be widely used in areas such as concreting, tile fixing, water proofing, concrete curing and enhancing concrete strength.
As the years progress, these are becoming more and more commonly used as construction becomes specialised eg use of basements, swimming pools, water storage facilities, septic tanks, repair of existing concrete structures, flat roofs and roof gardens.
Non Shrink Grout.
This is used to seal off the spaces in between tiles in a water proof manner. This is good for tiles especially i wet areas such as bathrooms or swimming pools since it’s water proof.
Concrete repair systems.
These are used to seal cracks in concrete or masonry walls, floors and other structures.
Surface treatments.
These are treatments that enable the concrete surfaces to receive plaster. In the suspended floor, the lower bottom part requires to be hacked to be rough enough to receive plaster for the ceiling in the floor beneath. This chemical is applied before concrete is poured on the formwork. After the formwork is removed, the surface will come out rough enough and ready to receive plaster. This is much cheaper than hiring labour to physically hack out the surface since it costs around kes 100 per square meter.
Bonding agents.
These are chemicals added to the concrete to enable new concrete to bond strongly with old existing concrete.
Floorings and Coatings.
These are epoxy floorings. They are mostly used in hospitals, laboratories, and factories where there is need for a smooth water proof surface that is easy to clean.
They are also used in indoor sports places such as basketball courts.
The cost is around between kes 8000 to kes 10000 per m2 for supply and fix around Nairobi.
Sealants.
These are used in the joints in between expansion joints for large buildings eg schools, airports, hospitals etc.
Waterproofing.
These are chemicals applied to water proof structures in wet areas such as septic tanks, swimming pools, flat roof gardens, balconies and basements.
Crystallisation slurry cementous waterproofing systems are ideal for basements. These cost around kes 7500 per 12m2 of surface.
Polymer modified semi flexible cementous water proofing systems are perfect for swimming pools, roof top gardens, flat roofs etc. These offer 100% guarantee against water ingress. The cementous membrane is applied on top of the concrete surface then its plastered or tiled in the case of swimming pools to provide 100% water proofing capacities. This costs around kes 6000 for a 6m2 surface coverage, slightly expensive than the crystallization option but offering much more water proofing capacity.
Tile adhesives and Grout.
These are used to stick ceramic tiles on the floor surfaces. They are much cheaper than the normal conventional cement use since they cost at least kes 100 per m2 compared to cement at kes 200 per m2.
Cement is usually 32.5 grade while the adhesives are in the 52.5 grade, hence more powerful than cement hence less shrinkage and less quantities used than cement, resulting to much savings.
Tile grout is waterproof, ensuring that the tile surface is completely sealed from water entering especially in wet areas.
Concrete admixtures.
These are chemicals used to speed up the curing time for concrete or to make the concrete more plastic hence easier to work on .
All these are available at www.a4architect.com.
For enquiries and quotations, email info@a4architect.com
