An extremely hot fire occurred inside a metal coating facility belonging to KBP Coil Coaters, causing serious structural concrete roof structure damage.

Its repair has been awarded a 2004 Award of Excellence in the special projects category by the International Concrete Repair Institute.

The building was constructed in the 1950s using a conventionally reinforced concrete folded roof plate slab, designed at 3.5-inch-thick. The roof span was 85 feet between supports.

Significant testing, both destructive and nondestructive, was used to determine the extent and boundaries of the fire damage. The testing also helped determine the size and location of reinforcing bars. Structural analysis and modeling of the roof plate stresses was completed. The stress distribution models and unique original design eliminated several conceptualized repair schemes.
 
It was determined that partial depth hydro-demolition was required to insure the highest concrete bond strength and re-establish the concrete to reinforcing steel bond. A wet mix shotcrete was used as the repair material. Epoxy bonded composite materials were installed to assist the repaired roof section in flexure.

Trial repairs and subsequent trial testing proved the repair scheme effectiveness. Code analysis of the structure determined that the 1950 code for shear was less stringent than the current code. This was evident as numerous shear cracks were found in the roof plate slab. Epoxy injection was completed to bond the shear cracks. Additional epoxy bonded composites were installed providing additional roof plate slab shear strength. 

The Denver Building department required a four-hour fire rating of the epoxy bonded composites. This stipulation was met. After review of the trial repairs, the building department issued a permit and large scale construction started. Approximately 7,140 square feet of concrete repair, 60,000 square feet of epoxy bonded composite and 3,150 lineal feet of crack injection was completed.

Repair contractor was Restruction Corp. of Sedalia, Colo.; project engineer/designer was Fay Engineering of Denver; and material suppliers were Fyfe Co. of San Diego, Calif. and ChemCo Systems Inc. of Redwood City, Calif.