The population is growing significantly in Austin, Texas, and the city’s airport keeps getting busier. This has led to expansion projects to accommodate the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport’s record passenger growth. One such project is a four-story structure that will serve as a parking structure, valet car wash and fueling station. Each fueling station is composed of 10 bays with a fuel pump in each, totaling to 30 bays for the entire structure.

Each bay was designed so that the drain in the slab is ½ inch lower than the rest of the substrate, to direct the flow of any over-fueling spills on the ground. The contractor applying the concrete topping to the substrate had to start at the highest point of the slab and maintain the slab’s slope down to the drain, which was typically a 1½-inch slope. However, the topping could not maintain the slope and failed the fire marshal’s inspection, so the search was on for different material.

At this time, general contractor Austin Commercial decided to install the topping themselves, rather than using a subcontractor. Foreman Elias Gonzalez worked with CTS Cement rep Luis Priego to find a lower-cost but highly durable cementitious product that can be applied at 1½-inch and then brought down to ½ inch. They found that Rapid Set® Mortar Mix was best suited for the job. Priego performed a mock-up on one of the slabs, and it passed all tests.

With Mortar Mix, the contractor was able to perform repairs successfully. The material was mixed via mechanical mixer and after application, it was water cured and broom finished.