Answering the Challenge of Watertight Transitions at Canadian Hospital

ON North York Hospital parking expansion joints EMSEAL Thermaflex

Transitions in expansion joints are often a weakness of the best designs. When executed in the field they dramatically slow the installation process and are often the cause of a failed water seal. The best solution is having factory-fabricated transitions built into the expansion system before it arrives at the jobsite. This approach to manufacturing is in place at the expanded construction taking place at North York General Hospital in Toronto Canada.

The hospital’s new additions included the construction of a large parking structure to handle the growing patient and staff population. The finished project had to be watertight while handling the movements of a large concrete structure in the extreme thermal conditions found in Toronto. Expansion gaps were engineered into the designs and EMSEAL’s Thermaflex product line of watertight membrane/nosing systems was chosen as the expansion joint throughout the parking decks.

Over 1500 feet of TCR-500, TCR-400 and TCR-300 was specified and installed. Much of this length required transitions and turns to address the unique characteristics of this parking garage with columns, multiple decks and intersecting walls, parapets and roofs. To maintain the integrity and watertightness of the system, EMSEAL factory-fabricated the almost 100 transitions involved in the system. Deck to wall, wall to wall and deck to deck changes in direction and plane were all built into the system at EMSEAL’s Westborough, MA factory.

Especially noteworthy are transitions where different widths of sealant join together. At North York General Hospital the differing gap widths demanded that north-south expansion gaps require TCR-500 and east-west gaps require the narrower TCR-400 or TCR-300. Each turn and tee necessitated joining materials of different widths–all successfully completed in the EMSEAL factory. The final system was delivered as a series of lengths of membranes with transitions prefabricated and ready to be installed.

Factory-fabricated tee transition

Close-up of join at TCR-300 to TCR-500

Reverse deck-to-wall vertical transition used at support column