Bergen op Zoom - Adhesive reinforcement balconies

In the Dutch town of Bergen op Zoom, Ervas ensured the outer reinforcement of protruding balconies in a successful and cost-efficient manner. This concerned concrete balconies of three five storey apartment buildings of two-year-old owner-occupied apartments. When calculating the reinforcement, an error was made.

   
Supporting balconies and gluing the laminates.

It caused extensive cracks on the lower side. As the apartment buildings were located close to the brackish water of the Oosterschelde estuary and the salty sea wind can cause swift damage to the reinforcement, this led to a dangerous situation. Renewal of the concrete construction would cause great inconvenience, installing steel joists underneath would be unaesthetic. The advantage of repairing with carbon fibers is that these are almost invisible.

Approach
Ervas works with a specially developed software package, among other things for the calculation and the working plan for the required reinforcement. In Bergen op Zoom, first the own weight of the balcony floors was neutralized by supporting and then boosting them. The concrete surface was sandblasted to enable a solid adhesion, subsequently the laminates were glued on top and (blindly) nailed through pre-drilled holes. Finally the laminates received a concrete color finish.