GCP Waterproofing Membrane Keeps Sacramento Kings' Arena Construction on Track

When F.D. Thomas, a respected West Coast waterproofing contractor, was faced with flooding, immense scale and a project below the water table near two major river systems, Vice President Stu Hunter said they called on the "industry workhorse" in below-grade waterproofing to get the job done on time. 

Heavy rains had left the $507M Golden 1 Center—soon-to-be home of professional basketball's Sacramento Kings—job site under four feet of water, pushing back the project timeline. Once the skies cleared, the pressure was on to waterproof 280,000 square feet in just 60 days. 

"We kicked-out 96 rolls of PREPRUFE^® Plus waterproofing membrane in a single day, taping everything with a 20-man crew," said Thomas Superintendent Kirk Himbert. 

The ease of application and reliability of the PREPRUFE^® product allowed the construction crew to crush an already tight 60-day deadline and finish the job in just under six and a half weeks. 

Hunter credited the success to his team, planning and PREPRUFE^® Plus itself. 

"Bonding companies will tell you that assurances are tough for owners to get because manufacturers don’t want the risk," Hunter said. "(GCP Applied Technologies) can say 'yes' because they know PREPRUFE^® Plus waterproofing membrane eliminates nearly all risk if installed correctly." 

PREPRUFE^® Plus products offer a unique set of features for such a sound installation: 

• Rapidly-deployed kick-out rolls
• All-weather seam adhesion with exclusive PREPRUFE^® ZIPLAP™ technology
• Permanent lateral water migration resistance from an integrally bonded membrane (no long-term settlement worries as with loose-laid barriers)
• No-waste, release liner-free installation

Five hundred (500) million square feet of PREPRUFE^® have been installed worldwide on thousands of high-profile projects, like the Kings' 17,500-seat arena. 

>> Read the full article in Architect Magazine. Sacramento Kings' arena contractors call on the "industry workhorse" in waterproofing membranes to get the job done on time.