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TECHNICAL DETAILS
A characteristic of their construction method is that the concrete panels are bonded together to form the complete unit which is guaranteed as water tight. This method was developed in the 1980’s in association with the Agricultural University in Wageningen, Holland. It had been noted that in large slurry pits under cattle stalls the acidic slurry very quickly eroded the exposed concrete reinforcing bars leading to a degradation of the concrete itself in a traditional poured concrete system.
Resulting investigations focused on the poor join between floor and walls. The concrete walls would dry and pull away from the floor causing a leak between the two. Research proved that a glued join between the floor and walls produces a much better and durable join, even twenty years after installation, as there is no shrinkage of the wet cement as it dries.
In practice this method has proved itself to be excellent: once the wall has been in place for a quarter of an hour it is virtually impossible to move it, and after a day the join is solid. This process requires a high degree of precision by the personnel carrying out the work on site. However, with prefabrication of the panels in a covered manufacturing facility the problems caused by inclement weather, humidity, temperature and inadequate working practices can be kept to the minimum. We sandblast or mill the floor slab where the glue join will be, and the walls are sandblasted before leaving the factory. A specially modified glue mortar mixture ensures an optimal join. In this way most installations can be made watertight without the need for uninterrupted reinforcement steel between floors and walls. We demonstrate this by means of a construction calculation dependant on the site’s ground water level, the soil/rock type and what structure if any is to be built above.
Dimensions
By installing the pre-fabricated wall and ceiling elements on site there are no restrictions on the size of construction. Car parks of 10,000 m2 are therefore not a problem and the speed of construction in this type of work ensures a reduction no less than 30% with respect to building time. It also ensures savings with regard to drainage costs during construction.
Watertight
The Dutch manufacturers MultiBouwSystemen BV guarantee that the basements and Understudies will be watertight. As described above, gluing the walls to the floor ensures that the errors in the construction process are kept to a minimum. To further reduce the risk of leakage and moisture ingress to nil, a flexible plastic modified two-component coating is applied to the outside of the walls. This procedure is carried out by our specialist installers. If there is no room on the outside of the cellar to apply the coating a special sealant is applied to the seams on the inside in a deepened rebate. This narrow rebate can then be covered with plaster without the whole wall having to be finished on the inside.
This sort of (negative) seal can sometimes be necessary in a basement that is placed against an existing house. MultiBouwSystemen BV will give you a guarantee certificate to certify that the cellar is watertight as soon as all invoices have been paid.
Interior Finish
The cellar walls are poured flat on steel tables inside a covered manufacturing factory. This means that the cellar walls will be smooth and flat on the inside. The vertical seams of the wall elements will have a v-shaped groove which will be finished flush but please note that there should be no gypsum-bound plasterwork on the walls. If you want to plaster the walls we recommend you use a cement-bound product having taken our specific advice.
Interior Environment
A cellar is cool during the summer and warm in the winter months. At a depth of 100 cm below ground level the temperature in summer and winter is the same: constant at about 11 degrees Celcius. This is a very pleasant temperature and allows a variety of uses.
There is one thing you must remember: when the weather is warm and humid during the summer there is the risk that the damp outside air may condense against the cool interior walls. So when the weather in summer is damp and warm keep the external windows closed and ideally ventilate the cellar with dry air. MBS supply about 200 cellars every year and have found that air conditioning is needed only with below ground swimming pools. In all other cases mechanical ventilation with dry interior air is sufficient. It may be superfluous, but we remind you again: MultiBouwSystemen BV guarantee that the thick solid walls and joins will not permit any moisture to enter the cellar from the surrounding ground.