How to change an existing sloped elevation in a building

Posted by BethAnn Kruljac on January 8, 2013 in GeoFoam

Northwest Hospital Auditorium

The University of Washington operates the Northwest Hospital & Medical Center on the north end of Seattle. Recently a remodel of one of the buildings included a change of use for an existing sloped floor lecture auditorium. The space was redesigned to serve as a state of the art surgical facility to improve care and offer additional professional services for patients. Part of the construction process involved changing the existing sloped elevation of a slab on grade floor to create a flat usable space for the new surgical suite. The project Engineers specified InsulFoam GF EPS15 as a structural void fill to reverse the slope. One of Insulfoam’s territory sales managers, Dan Michaels worked with the contractor to design a custom factory cut puzzle with shop drawing to minimize field fabrication on the job-site Due to no access for heavy equipment and a prohibition of mechanical compaction noise required with standard soil fill, EPS Geofoam served as an excellent alternative lightweight structural fill material that provided a strong, stable sub-base for the new concrete floor slab.

Northwest Hospital Auditorium Leveling

Prior to this installation, the project manager with Abbott Construction of Seattle had not yet been involved with an EPS Geofoam project. They received several furnish and installation bids from various sub-contractors as part of the prime bid package. Abbott received several F&I bids as high as $23,000 from the sub-contractors. Once the contract was awarded, the GC was considering a value engineering change order to eliminate the Geofoam due to initial high cost of the bids. The PM contacted one of Insulfoam’s Geofoam Specialists for consultation and soon learned the EPS material package would cost less than $5,000. Insulfoam provided the contractor education and installation techniques that demonstrated the low labor costs and the GC decided to self-perform the installation. The PM was very happy to discover how simple the factory cut pieces went in less than 1 day and appreciated the service and fabrication tools that the Insulfoam representatives provided to ensure a smooth installation.