Rulantica - the water world of Europa-Park
Rulantica is the new water adventure world located at the theme and leisure resort “Europa Park” in Rust. On more than 40 000 m² of in- and outdoor space the waterworld offers water fun and a comfortable atmosphere.
Data
| Building type | Swimming pools |
|---|---|
| Date | 05.06.2021 |
| Area | 18.000 m² |
| Country | Germany |
Tile work at the highest level
Ulm, June 2021 | Rulantica is the new water adventure world located at the theme and leisure resort “Europa Park” in Rust. On more than 40 000 m² of in- and outdoor space the waterworld offers water fun and a comfortable atmosphere. The whole building process took more than two years and the owners of the Europa-Park had to invest about 180 million euros. Therefore, Rulantica is the biggest project that was realized in the whole story of the leisure resort.
The contract for the realisation of the tiling work was given to Fliesen Mauz GmbH from Mainz. “The scope of the project was impressive. Our ambition was no less than to contribute our own work of art to the overall Rulantica concept. For us, as a specialist company, we saw it as our duty to implement beautiful, functional and durable tiling work, while considering the various requirements,” owner Rainer Mauz.
The tiling work contained several floor and wall coverings in versatile formats, designs and patterns outside the pools. Above this, the project demanded the professional sealing as well as tiling the floor according to the required slip resistance. This was especially relevant in areas around the pool, shower areas, changing rooms, stairs and corridors as well as the rooms for storage and technical equipment. For the professional execution of the project special Know-how was required for the sealing concept and the perfect selection of the products. Therefore, Hans-Dieter Ziech, application technician from codex was on hand constantly to offer advice. “To reach a perfect and sustainable result, perfectly coordinated products and tried and tested installation system are decisive”, said Ziech.
Requirements and solutions in substrate preparation
One of the most important points when building swimming pools is a well working and professional sealing in all wet areas and to consider the respective application situation as well as the required water impact classes. Connections and penetrations are possible vulnerabilities that can endanger the tightness of the entire construction.
In case of Rulantica, the possibilities to connect the sealing to the existing built-in parts and wall constructions were a big challenge, as these were executed in a rock look and thus left no room for profiles. This, together with the subsequent slope formation and the products chosen according to the requirements, confronted the tilers with a task that demanded the highest degree of creativity and safety.
Create a slope afterwards
The floor drains and gutters were installed subsequently in an existing screed surface. Due to this, the required slope was not given everywhere. “Our solution was to produce a perfectly fitting slope at the already built-in gutters and floor drains with a quick setting, flowable slope levelling compound. We have chosen the long proven cementitious floor levelling compound codex NC 395, as it enables slopes up to 4%” said Hans-Dieter Ziech from codex.
In smaller partial areas the tilers used a low-slump and quick setting levelling mortar codex NC 366 Maxx to produce the required slope. It was used to level out stairs or already existing slopes.
Thank to both products a fast working process was possible as they are ready to walk and work on after only 1 – 2 hours.
Challenge: Waterproofing with water impact class W2-I and W3-I
The changing rooms and other wet areas with the water impact classes W2-I as well as several staircases in the swimming pool area were sealed according to the respective requirements with the smooth cementitious 1-C flexible sealing compound codex NC 210 on the floor and the low-slump flexible sealing compound codex AX 230 at the walls. When having different slopes it is the easiest way to work with mineral sealing compounds as creating a reliable sealing is possible even for funnel slopes. Both sealing compounds reach the minimum dry-film thickness of two millimetres, which is required by the norm, without any problems when the two given layers get installed.
Highly loaded areas with the water impact class W3-I have a very frequent or long-lasting exposure to splash- and/or process water, to water from intensive cleanings or accumulating water. According to DIN 18534 this water impact class affects the following areas at Rulantica: all swimming pool surrounds, the entire swimming pool area, the shower and commercial kitchen areas. All these areas and other highly loaded areas (W3-I) were sealed with a sealing and decoupling mat before as everything was done with a single-layer installation to ensure a fast working process. The execution of this sealing was determined as a special construction with the client before. The professional installation was ensured due to the available “general test certificate by building authorities”.
Special construction: sealing sheet
When having a construction site of this size and variety of single trades and craftsmen, the system used should not only deliver the required safety in the highly loaded areas, it also should be quick to install and early ready for covering. Above this, sealing sheets offer an additional decoupling effect which is highly above the one of liquid sealants.
At Rulantica all sealing sheets were bonded with a fast flexible adhesive of the class C2 FT S1 (codex Power RX 6 Turbo). This high-quality, quick setting and highly flexible thin-bed mortar enables a rapid working process and an excellent adhesion. For higher safety the corners, floor and wall connections, penetrations and joint formations were installed with the codex sealing corners, sealing tapes, sealing collars, overlappings etc. and the 2 component epoxy resin composite sealant codex Epo 2000. Therefore, most of the highly loaded connecting areas are permanently bonded to the sealing sheet and resistant against cleaning agents, water additives and other aggressive media. Above this, a large number of penetrations like floor drains, gutters and mountings of each type were reliably integrated into the overall construction.
Due to the large-scale dimension of the entire water world Rulantica, the decoupling of the sealing sheets contributes to the durability of the coverings. Although sufficient movement and field boundary joints have been installed, a flexible decoupling layer is clearly superior here. Especially because the tiles installed have a format of 15 x 15 cm and therefore a very high amount of joints.
Diversity of tiles throughout the water world
The interior design of Rulantica has provided for a variety of different patterns, colours, shapes and functions of the individual tiled areas. Therefore, many different tile models were used such as mosaic tiles (10 x 10 cm), floor tiles (15 x 15 to 25 x 125 cm) in different colours or wood look, wall tiles with borders as well as large format tiles. In addition, grooved and colour-contrasting tiles have been laid in the stairwells to take the safety aspect into account when implementing the design concept.
As varied as the variety of tiles selected was, as uncomplicated was the choice of the suitable installation products. For the bonding of most of the tiles the universal useable and low-slump flexible thin-bed mortar codex Power CX 3 (C2 TE S1) was used. Above this the fast flow- and thin-bed mortar codex Power RX 6 Turbo (C2 FT S1) was used in areas like staircases, that have to be immediately ready for foot traffic and loads. As a result, the areas were already usable again after 2.5 hours. The bonding of the counter cover, tables and parts of the stairs in the water of the leisure pool were carried out with the bonding and grouting resin codex Epo-Tix on concrete construction. Thanks to the water- and capillary free bonding, the natural stone was laid durable and discolouration-free. For the final jointing of the coverings the universal useable and rapid flex grout mortar codex X-Tec was used. It offers the required fine and closed joint surface to serve the high level of loads.
Thanks to the high personnel commitment of Fliesen Mauz and the appropriate construction site and material planning, the project was completed on schedule. Of course, the correctly selected products and the technical application advice from codex are also important factors.
