Imagine the embarrassment and frustration when Ohio State University’s (OSU) premier competitive swimming venue started losing pool tiles just after completion and for years to come.
A successful retile of about half of the facility in 2015 sparked the decision in May, 2019 to retile the McCorkle Aquatic Center, consisting of nearly 25,000 square feet of tile that sit underneath more than a million-and-a-half gallons of water. The team behind the 2015 retile along with Berglund Construction Co, and Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates (WJE) engineering, was again called on for this demanding project.
Challenges stacked up quickly. Planned student and community programs dictated an early August completion date. With an early May start date, there was no wiggle room for any delay!
The selected Daltile Keystone 1”x1” ceramic tile came with the new Clearface™ mounting system, which differs significantly from standard paper-faced mounting. Installers would have to master a new mounting system during a time sensitive project. The Clearface system also left an adhesive residue on the tile. The team had to identify and test a cleaning product that met the demands of underwater performance, again, within tight time constraints.
Regardless of time pressure, project quality would not be compromised. The Diverzify team timed and documented multiple aspects of the installation to assure installation methods satisfied both time constraints and quality standards.
With tile installation completed on-time, the McCorkle Aquatic Center projects a state-of-the-art image and represents OSU pride and spirit. Most importantly, there have been no issues of adhesion failure, or any the other tile malfunctions that once frustrated and embarrassed administrators. The McCorkle Aquatic Center again stands proudly as the OSU showcase aquatic facility.
