The Watergate Complex Plaza Repairs

The Watergate Complex in Washington, DC includes a hotel, office building, condominiums, and retail.  SK&A’s Repair & Restoration Division provided repairs to the office building’s B-2 level retail plaza area and B-3 level parking garage directly beneath the plaza.  The B-2 level retail plaza area is leased by Penzance and the B-3 level below is owned by Watergate East, Inc. and consists of residential parking, 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.

In 2012, SK&A provided construction documents and specifications related to the concrete repairs and waterproofing design for the B-2 level retail plaza and B-3 level garage.  The work was performed from December 2012 to May of 2013 and 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 aide in drainage of the plaza.  The repairs involved daily coordination between the contractor and management in order to complete the work and maintain daily access to each individual retail store impacted by the work.