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Anti-corrosion
Industrial & floors
Curing agent
Concrete sealers
Residential
Blog
The collapse of the Surfside condominium in Florida was a major story, but it was really only one part of a larger problem: the failure of planning, maintenance, and materials science in coastal construction. It is also a powerful example of how better materials science can improve both environmental and social sustainability.
Florida has over 1.5 million condominium units, most made of concrete and most situated within two miles of the ocean. The weather is warm, sunny, and wonderful for seniors and vacationers alike. But the salty air rising from a warm evaporating ocean is a relentless corroder, and within the first two miles of the shoreline, where airborne salts concentrate, that corrosion is especially aggressive. Bridges, roads, parking garages, pools, and residential buildings all suffer the same fate.
Many of these condominium structures were built in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, meaning they are now reaching the age where the history of maintenance, or the lack of it, becomes painfully apparent. Miami-Dade and two neighboring counties now require 30-year and 40-year engineering reports verifying structural fitness, and further reports every ten years after that. Following Surfside, many owners are reconsidering the lax inspection and repair practices of the past. The sheer volume of structures needing restoration means the repair work will take decades to complete.
A large number of Florida's coastal condominium residents are lower-income elderly people whose savings are tied up in their homes. When salt corrosion advances far enough to require structural repair, the bills can run to tens of thousands of dollars per unit. That financial burden falls hardest on those least able to pay, and it can devastate a lifetime of savings late in life. Ignoring the problem does not make it go away. There are structures with existing damage that need restoration work immediately.
Salt acts like a chemical crowbar, levering and breaking concrete apart millimeter by millimeter. Sodium chloride liquefies in the presence of moisture or humidity, then recrystallizes and expands within the concrete. This dissolving and expanding cycle continues indefinitely once salt enters the material, driving cracks deeper and deeper. Salt also attacks the cement binder chemistry itself, causing erosion that opens the surface to further penetration.
As salt corrosion reaches the structurally reinforcing steel, it accelerates steel corrosion. The steel rusts, expands, spalls the surrounding concrete, and loses structural strength. The result is reduced load capacity until, eventually, concrete and steel fail together. The only reliable way to stop this cycle is to prevent salt from entering the concrete in the first place, which requires a salt barrier that, until now, did not exist.
Epoxies and other film-forming coatings adhere to the concrete surface temporarily rather than chemically bonding with it. Moisture can intrude from underneath, causing film delamination failures, especially in elevated concrete where temperature swings accelerate peeling. Epoxies and polyurethanes are also destroyed by UV light from the Florida sun. None of these coatings provide the durability or reliability needed to protect concrete from salt, water, and weathering over the long term.
Engineers, architects, and builders looking for better technology are finding it in Zirconia's family of salt and waterproofing solutions. The restoration system works in three stages.
Before applying CeramycGuard™, Zirconia uses a nano-scale solution of colloidal silica that penetrates deep into the concrete and forms a natural cement gel. This gel either pushes residual salt out of the concrete or encapsulates it, locking it in place and preventing further harm to both the concrete and the structural steel beneath.
CeramycGuard™ is Zirconia's primary nano-ceramic technology, using alumina and zirconia silicates to strengthen, preserve, and protect concrete surfaces. The dense nano-ceramic polymer penetrates the substrate and atomically bonds to all available elements in the concrete, shielding the surface from salts, water, and weathering. It fills the surface pores where salt enters, rebonds the concrete matrix, re-bonds cracks up to roughly 5 mm with CeramycGuard, and stabilizes the material throughout. CeramycGuard is not affected by salt, heat, humidity, wet and dry cycles, or ultraviolet light.
For the final topcoat, Zirconia may apply BulletProof™, a ceramic-organic hybrid technology that forms a super-tough composite with the CeramycGuard™ layer. BulletProof™ is ultra-durable, chemical-resistant, and wear-resistant, making it ideal for parking garages and other areas that need a robust wear layer.
General contractors and their clients in the Miami area have been pleased to find a reliable salt and waterproofing system built on green chemistry: water-based formulations and green solvent-based products that do not fill the air with toxic hazardous solvents. That matters greatly for the health of workers on the job and for elderly residents who remain in their homes during treatment.
Better materials science makes a measurable difference in social outcomes. Zirconia's technology can restore and preserve the homes of elderly residents who deserve golden years free of expensive, unexpected repair bills. When corrosion is stopped at the surface, the costs that would otherwise fall on people without the means to pay simply do not arise. Keeping vulnerable seniors safe and comfortable in their homes is exactly the kind of outcome that better building science should deliver.
Talk to our technical team about the right ceramic surface treatment for your concrete infrastructure.