JOG and Teretek® Used to Raise and Re-Level Floor in Aged Care Facility

Amana Living provides aged care services across 21 sites in Western Australia including Perth, Australind, Kalgoorlie, and Albany. Its services include residential care centres, housing, home care services, respite care, transition care, and dementia services. The dementia wing of its Kalgoorlie facility had experienced subsidence, resulting in a sloped floor that needed to be corrected.

The affected section of the facility encompassed nine patient rooms, each with an ensuite bathroom. The sloping floor was identified as a trip hazard for the elderly residents of the facility as well as Amana Living’s employees.

Amana Living worked with Duncan Jack Consulting Engineers to determine a solution that would raise and re-level the floor as near as practical to level. A complete re-build was considered and rejected because it was expensive and would have been far too disruptive for the facility’s residents.

Mainmark recommended its proprietary Teretek® engineered resin injection, in conjunction with JOG Computer-Controlled Grouting. Using this combination, Mainmark was able to bring the aged care facility’s floors back to level within 10 days, with minimal disruption to the residents, who were able to return to their rooms every night.

The floor of the Amana Living aged care facility needed to be re-levelled, requiring a lift of approximately 100mm across an area of 190 m2.

Minimal impact on residents was also requested. Each working day, the patients vacated their rooms in the morning and returned at night. This meant plumbers had to ensure all wet services such as toilets, basins, and showers could be used safely each night.

Additionally, the solution needed to address possible subsidence or soil movement under the floor slab to help prevent issues from re-occurring in the future. Finally, it was important that the lift process was managed carefully to ensure that lifting-induced flexural gradients across the slab remained compliant with relevant codes and guidelines.

JOG cementitious grout was used around the perimeter footing to target the 100mm lift height, then Teretek® was used to fill the void under the slab.

The JOG system delivered a proprietary mix of cementitious grout to targeted areas of the structure’s footings. This fast and efficient process required no excavation as the cementitious grout was delivered via 40mm holes cored into the floor. A proprietary high pressure, low volume grout pump controlled by computer program circulates the cementitious grout to multiple injection points. The process was carried out as one continuous operation, circulating the grout to each point in the required quantity, raising the structure evenly and gradually, without any undue stress.

The Teretek® resin injection solution was then used to fill any resulting voids under the slab. Teretek® is unique in that it delivers both ground improvement and re-levelling with a fast, non-invasive process, backed by a 50-year product warranty.

Due to some difficulty accessing the site, Mainmark negotiated access with a neighbouring business by creating an access point within the boundary fence. The inner and outer courtyards of the aged care facility were cordoned off to prevent patients from accessing the work area.

To ensure residents could use their bathrooms, Mainmark organised plumbers to check them each day, with minor repairs or adjustments carried out as necessary. Because the patients were unable to be rehoused during the project, Mainmark ensured all drill outs in the floor slab were flushed off after each work shift and all hoses removed so that the patients could return to their rooms and bathrooms safely and easily.

Mainmark levelled the entire area simultaneously, addressing the potential issue of lifting-induced flexural gradients falling outside the relevant codes and guidelines. This approach lifted the entire treatment area and achieved the desired result of bringing the sloping floor back to level. It also gave Amana Living confidence that the underlying soil stability issue had been addressed, making further subsidence and related damage unlikely.

Nicole Gardiner, Centre Operations Manager, Residential Care, Amana Living, said, “The Mainmark team did a professional, well organised, and tidy job. The team members were courteous, polite, explained the application very well and provided regular updates throughout the process. I would have no hesitation in recommending them to any potential clients.”