TEC® Brand Products Offer Peace of Mind For Difficult Installation Challenge at Major Mall

Walk along the second floor mezzanine of the Oak Park Mall, and you’ll feel the trembling under foot.  Built 37 years ago, the mall is still one of the largest indoor shopping centers in Kansas City. But the original design allowed substantial deflection in the floor, and the constant structural movement caused the tile flooring to crack throughout.

In early 2011, Klover Architects and Metro Tile set out to tackle the challenge of replacing nearly 125,000 square feet of tile flooring.  With the help of the distributor, ISC Surfaces, the team elected to use TEC® products. The choice was based on a superior system to address the unique installation challenges, as well as an extended 25 year limited warranty.

“Structurally, we knew the situation was difficult,” said Kevin Coffman at Metro Tile. “So we had to rely on products that could overcome the challenges.  Based on our past experience, we were confident that TEC® products would be the right choice for the job.”

The team set out to tackle the project in phases, which included the removing the flooring, preparing the surface for the new installation and installing new tile on the second level and ground floor.

After the initial removal of the tile, Metro Tile used TEC Fast-Set Deep Patch to fill and level the concrete, and Smooth StartTM Self-Leveling Underlayment to create a smooth surface in various areas throughout.  To address the deflection issues, installers used HydraFlexTM Waterproofing Crack Isolation Membrane to prevent cracks from telegraphing through to the tile. Then, large format porcelain tile was installed using fast-setting formulations of TEC 3N1® and TEC grout.

While the majority of the project is complete, work still continues on some of the smaller areas. The entire project is scheduled to be complete in 2011.

For more information about the products used in the Oak Park Mall flooring renovation, visit www.tecspecialty.com.