The President is wrong. That’s not a dig. It is a fact re-enforced by every knowledgeable post in this thread.
Or maybe not?
A liner along the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was cut with a sharp knife or razor this month, causing damage to the foam sealant installed as part of a $16 million rehabilitation project, a top official at the National Park Service says.
The police report indicates damage to the pool, "including a caulk over the foam sealant that was cut with a sharp knife or razor and destruction of delaminating surface material,‘’ Lands said. About 70 fence post tops also were thrown into the pool, he said.
The article i read said that there was a small cut in the foam spacer between sections that looked like it might have been made with a knife, but that that was unrelated to the peeling paint from the flat sections of the surface. So… There might be some vandalism, but the bulk of the problems already too be from paint that doesn’t actually stick to the surface, that is, the work seems to have been done poorly.
It should have been allowed to cure before filling, but the repair was an emergency, so no waiting.
What aspect of this disaster was the result of a knife cut, if true? Irregular sheets of material surfacing, or the severe algae?
The algae was apparently completely predictable, and would have happened after any repair. The peeling paint is because they did something wrong with the paint. The small cut in the spacing material (you need something flexible between the slabs) might have been intentional, but i didn’t think that’s known. But, unlike the major problems, it is consistent with intentional damage.
Or ground water penetrating the aging concrete. That should be expected for anything built on a tidal flat.
[Moderating]
That is a bit off topic, but it is factual, and the thread has gone on long enough, that I’ll allow it.
The trouble is that this is being reported by the Natural Park Service in Washington DC.
Is there independent confirmation from non political appointees?
Who would be able to verify it? The pool is now completely fenced off and guarded by our Nation’s finest.
Would it also be consistent with a split resulting from poor workmanship? Because if so, I am not confident it would be reported as such.
A current article on exactly what was applied to the pool - certainly not “paint” as we’d conventionally call it:
Eddie Wood, who owns Atlantic Industrial Coatings, said it was the government that decided to use a type of plastic-like coating called polyurea and contract Rhino Linings to provide those materials .
The company has previously been contracted by branches of the military, providing coatings for body armor, helicopters, fuel tanks and trucks, its website says.
…
The two Rhino Linings products ultimately used in the Reflecting Pool were Rhino 406 Primer and Pipeliner 5000, according to an advertisement for the company. The primer is made up of epoxy, and the pipeliner is made of a mixture of resin and isocyanate – polyurea.
The Pipeliner 5000 product is typically used for linings in water storage, wastewater facilities, and pipes – containers not exposed to sunlight on a regular basis. Some polyureas are not stable under UV light .
As for the Rhino 406 Primer, one Sika employee said that epoxy, which is a popular coating for garage floors, is rigid, and would not be a good solution for flexing joints like the ones in the Reflecting Pool.
Not making any non-FQ commentary, but it appears that the material chosen (if the reporting is accurate) were a poor fit for the circumstances.
I suspect the there is a lot of commentary trying to point to an obvious blunder. But there is a lot of nuance.
Saying “epoxy” or “polyurea” without any qualification is about as useful as saying something is made out of metal.
There are a huge number of different types of epoxy resins - any polymer with an epoxide bond. Which is enough scope for entire careers to be spent doing nothing but exploring the possibilities. Same is going to be true of any polymer. Adding other components to improve the characteristics is part of the art. So UV resistance, flexibility, durability, and so on. All can be modified and improved. Not always cheaply, and some are in conflict with others. Some basic characteristics remain - and there is only so much one can do, but these things are not a black and white given.
I would expect a coating system designed for wastewater management systems to be a pretty good starting point. Clearly something went awry. However the route that appears to have been chosen doesn’t sound like an incompetent fly by night outfit, out of their depth. Which is the line it appears some are pushing.
Lots of things can go wrong. Especially if not enough time is available to ensure things are done right. I have had firsthand experience of polymer coatings going pear shaped because environmental conditions were not controlled. Just getting too cold at the wrong time can wreck everything. The reflecting pool could throw some interesting challenges.
The attendant politics will likely made actual understanding of the issue hard to unpick from the noise. Which is unfortunate. I love these sorts of questions.
Thanks for the insight - I just wanted to pass along the additional reporting about the composition as it applies to our earlier questions about the “paint” in use. I’ll leave it to those with actual experience in the field to determine if paint remover or thinner would have any effect at all on the materials mentioned.
If it was installed correctly, how easy would it be to damage with a box knife? Would it be easy to pull up these odd shaped pieces?
I know the Rhino spray in bed liner in one of my trucks was damn tough. It would’ve taken a lot of work with a box or utility knife to pull any off in any meaningful manner.
I want whatever blade they used in the box cutter to cut that liner. Even when being in contact with concrete for 350 feet, it maintained its sharpness!
Or, more likely - The National Park Service under the Trump Administration cannot be trusted.
The main issue, one of Sika employees said, was the lining over the expansion joints featured in the Reflecting Pool
An expansion joint, doing what it should, expanding, seems like a way to get a crack hundreds of feet long in the lining.