Award of Excellence: High-Rise Category

The Reef Condominium

Cape Canaveral, Florida

Submitted by Chematics of the South, Inc.

The Reef Condominium is an eight-story steel-reinforced concrete structure with concrete block in-fill walls and a stucco exterior. The building is located along the Atlantic coastline in central Florida.

Due to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean, the building has suffered a great deal of corrosion. The large wave action of the Atlantic causes salt from the ocean to become airborne and settle on the east-facing balconies. Combined with carbonation, which lowers the pH of the concrete, and rain water, which serves to carry the salt into the concrete and onto the steel rebar, the inevitable result is rusting of the rebar and eventually spalling of the concrete.

By repairing the concrete and installing a cathodic protection system, the building was taken from a standard concrete restoration project to a “state-of-the art” repair project, that will provide the owners complete freedom from any future repairs due to corrosion of the reinforcing steel.