The Watergate Complex Plaza Repairs

The Watergate Complex in Washington, DC includes a hotel, office building, condominiums, and retail. Repair services were provided to the office building’s B-2 level retail plaza area and B-3 level parking garage directly beneath the plaza. The B-3 level also consists of tenant storage rooms, various hallways, and mechanical rooms.

The original waterproofing on the structural slab located below the exterior plaza topping slab is a continuous coal tar fluid-applied waterproofing system, which at the time of the repair was approximately 43 years in age. Over the years, the original waterproofing has been exposed in isolated areas throughout the plaza, and removed and replaced with either sheet membranes or hot fluid-applied rubberized asphalt systems.

The work performed consisted of the removal and replacement of the exposed aggregate topping slab located throughout the B-2 level plaza within the retail mall area. Once the topping was removed, the existing waterproofing was removed and replaced, and concrete repairs were also performed to the underlying waffle slab. An existing two- to four-inch-thick decorative concrete topping was replaced in the center of the plaza with a new black, gray, and white alternating colored Miracote coating. New waterproofing details were provided at drains and along the plaza perimeter in order to provide tie-ins and terminations, as well as to aid in drainage of the plaza.