Waterproofing of original brickwork
Background
Mason House is an exclusive members’ only nightclub in Argyll Street, London, which is frequented by celebrities including Beyonce and Jay-Z. With origins dating back to 1737 and with listed status, the structure is built beneath street level amongst the vaults of The London Palladium and has been ornately refurbished to resemble a Masonic Temple.
The building was formerly a Masonic Lodge and many of its original features have been restored to their former glory. Guests enter the venue through a candlelit crypt before reaching three brick arches. The club is owned by entrepreneurs Marc Merran, Eamonn Mulholland and Jean Philippe Kley who also own the well-known celebrity haunt Chinawhite. Structural Renovations were appointed as main contractors to resolve a damp ingress issue within the administrative area of the club.
The Solution
The existing waterproof render was removed to expose the original brickwork beneath. Localised repairs were first carried out using Monomix, a high strength, non-shrink waterproof mortar which can be applied up to 80mm in a single application. As Monomix is a single component, pre-packaged material, it only requires the addition of clean water on-site and the finished mortar offers low permeability to water, even at 10 bar pressure.
The substrate was then levelled with Monolevel RM to render and profile the substrate and provide a fair-faced finish. Once cured, the entire surface was coated with two x 1mm coats of Cementitious Coating 851, a high performance, cementitious modified coating which provides exceptional protection against water ingress. Designed for structural waterproofing, it resists positive and negative pressure under 100m head of water in below ground structures. It forms a hard, highly alkaline coating which not only protects the substrate from the effects of aggressive acid gases, moisture and chlorides, but also has greatly enhanced chemical resistance.
851 is non-toxic when cured, and like all of Flexcrete’s products, it is water-based so there are no special concerns during application in enclosed locations. When completed, this high performance structural waterproofing system is simply decorated to match the surrounding finishes.
Client
Private owners
Project - Mason House