Project Scope and Timeline
The few short precious months of summer are indeed a valuable time at the United States Naval Academy. It is during these months that maintenance work is performed so that the remainder of the year the Academy may remain focused on the education and training of some of our country’s most elite men and women.
This summer, through its national facilities management firm, The USNA contracted OTN’s Resinous Flooring Division to resurface the Academy’s Scott Natatorium pool deck. As with all summer maintenance projects the usual tight time constraints applied and were compounded by the added challenge presented by the age and condition of the existing pool deck.
Floor Preparation
Built in 1924, the Scott Natatorium has been the home of Navy’s water polo program since re-instituted in 1982. The pool is 150 feet long and 60 feet wide and surrounded by a large deck composed of 1” x 2” glazed ceramic tile. When constructed it was one of the largest indoor tile pools in the country. With a period of two weeks for prep and installation and one-week cure time, OTN’s resinous flooring crew had their work cut out for them.
The flooring technicians prepped the tile surface by removing the glaze finish with Blastrac equipment. All loose or failing tiles were removed and the surface patched. The prepared surface received a prime coat followed by a slurry coat of epoxy and sand mix that filled all grout joints, preventing them from telegraphing through the final floor system.
Application of the Resinous Floor
Following these steps, the floor received two complete coats of clear epoxy, each of which was broadcast to rejection with a colored quartz aggregate. After the rejected quartz was removed, a seal coat of clear epoxy* was applied followed by a final top coat of clear urethane therefore creating a monolithic floor. The final system produces a colorful, wear resistant and slip resistant surface.
Project Results
With the pool drained during the resinous flooring installation, OTN's crews also re-coated the black lane markers in the pool bottom. After a one-week cure time, the pool was back in service with a bright, slip resistant, seamless resinous pool deck.
*See another example of Seamless Epoxy Flooring.