Owner
City of Lakeland
Lakeland, Florida

Project Engineer/
Designer
NHWL
Tallahassee, Florida

Repair Contractor
Above All Caulking & Waterproofing
Tampa, Florida

Material Supplier
Sika Corporation
Lyndhurst, New Jersey

Since 1999, the City of Lakeland, Florida, has been undergoing a major facelift in an effort to attract both businesses and visitors to the downtown area. Projects have included bridges, parking garages, City Hall, building facades and parks. During 2002 and 2003, two adjacent historic stadiums, Henley Field, a baseball stadium built in 1923, and Bryant Stadium, a football stadium built in 1944, underwent major restoration work.

Both stadiums suffered from corrosion of the reinforced concrete, causing cracks and spalls on slabs, columns, and beams. The absence of a waterproof protective coating on the top surface of the grandstands permitted the effects of weathering to erode a significant portion of the cement paste. Loss of the this paste coupled with low reinforcing steel cover and very porous concrete was determined to be the root cause of the corrosion problem.

Spalls were repaired using a combination of “hand-applied” and “form and pour” methods, while dynamic cracks were routed and sealed with polyurethane sealant and static cracks were sealed with epoxy. To protect both new and existing concrete from further deterioration, a low modulus epoxy broadcast overlay was applied to all top-side surfaces of the grandstands. A blending of black, gray and plum colored quartz sand was used to create the impermeable membrane and help hide any bugholes and other surface imperfections in the existing concrete as well as to help conceal dirt and stains generated from events at the stadium.

The cost to rehabilitate both stadiums was approximately $700,000 and took approximately 7 months.