Parking deck expansion joints

A major, yet often overlooked, part of the infrastructure in the United States is the parking structure. The parking garage will go largely unnoticed until there is a problem. The parking garage will service a commercial building, government facility, or industrial operation and operate per design for years. As the structure ages and maintenance items are over looked, design weaknesses, weather, use, abuse, and exposure to the sun take there toll on the materials incorporated into the garage. The typical problems that will occur with these structures are spalls, cracks, damaged expansion joints, water infiltration. TOPCOR is uniquely positioned to address all of theses issues. Spalls, cracks, and waterproofing are detailed on other pages of this website, this page will deal with the expansion joints.

Expansion joints occur at various locations in a parking garage. Often the garages are expanded or built in multiple phases creating a need to link the existing structure with the next structure. The link from one structure to the next will need to compensate for building movement caused by wind, thermal expansions, vehicle loading and other imposed loads. The design engineer is responsible for the correct design of the expansion joint. The movement in this critical expansion joint needs to be dealt with while allowing for vehicle and pedestrian traffic. TOPCOR works with designers, maintenance organizations, and expansion joint manufactures to solve these difficult problems.

The replacement of a failing expansion joint can be done during non-peak hours to limit the impact on the parking garage or adjacent facility. TOPCOR can plan and schedule multiple crews and shifts to meet the specific project requirements.

The failed expansion joint replacement process will generally follow this scope:

  1. Expansion joint assessment by the owner's representative or engineer, a consultant, or general contractor. TOPCOR will be involved in the step and can act as the conduit for information for the project.
  2. Mobilization and traffic control installation including detours around the work area. Shields and barricades can be built around the work area to prevent damage to the existing facilities, cars, and pedestrians.
  3. Failed expansion joint removal will depend largely on the type of existing joint. TOPCOR has the experience to remove expansion joints that are armored, imbedded, chemically adhered, and mechanically attached to the substrate.
  4. Edge repairs and spall repairs are important to return any damaged concrete to its original design capacity. Please see our spall repair website.
  5. he initial preparation for the new joint is a critically important step for the replacement of the expansion joint. The scope of this preparation will depend a great deal on the condition and configuration of the existing expansion joint verses the new expansion joint. Preparation of the joint could include modifications to the adjacent concrete, installation of edge armoring steel, re-sizing of the joint, removal of existing coatings, and other steps to make concrete ready for the new expansion joint.
  6. Final preparation of the surface could include abrasive blasting, solvent wiping, and other methods to complete the removal of contaminants on the surfaces to receive the new materials.
  7. Installation of the new expansion joint; TOPCOR works with a number of expansion joint manufactures and can install a variety of different expansion joint types. We follow all of the recommended procedures during the installation of the expansion joint. In addition to the TOPCOR staff we can arrange to have the technical representatives from the manufactures on site during the initial joint installation to insure the expansion joint is correctly installed.
  8. Clean up and demobilization is the final step to the successful completion of the project. TOPCOR strives to leave as small an impact on the surrounding area in the garage as possible.