Hawaiian Bitumuls & Paving v. United States

38 Cont. Cas. Fed. 76,402, 26 Cl. Ct. 1234, 1992 U.S. Claims LEXIS 437, 1992 WL 234098
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedSeptember 22, 1992
DocketNo. 90-739C
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 38 Cont. Cas. Fed. 76,402 (Hawaiian Bitumuls & Paving v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hawaiian Bitumuls & Paving v. United States, 38 Cont. Cas. Fed. 76,402, 26 Cl. Ct. 1234, 1992 U.S. Claims LEXIS 437, 1992 WL 234098 (cc 1992).

Opinion

ORDER

MOODY R. TIDWELL, III, Judge:

This case is before the court on the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment. [1236]*1236For the reasons set forth below, the court grants in part, and denies in part, defendant’s motion; and grants in part, and denies in part, plaintiff’s cross-motion.

FACTS

In September 1982, Hawaiian Bitumuls & Paving contracted with the United States Department of the Navy to repair aircraft parking aprons and taxiways at the Naval Air Station at Barbers Point, Hawaii (NASBP). A significant part of the repair work was the cleaning and resealing of joints in the concrete pavement of the NASBP airfield.1 Additionally, all cracks and spalls in the pavement were to be repaired.2 Section 02616, Part 3, of the contract outlined the preparation and resealing of the joints, and is, in substantial part, as follows:

3.1.1 Preparation of Joints: The existing joint sealing materials and foreign matter in pavement joints shall be removed to the depth required to accommodate any separating or depth blocking medium used to maintain the required depth for the new sealing materials to be installed____ All residual joint sealing material existing on the pavement shall be removed completely by scraping, wire-brushing or power driven concrete sawing with diamond or abrasive blades to expose clean concrete____
3.1.2 Preparation of Cracks: Enlarge cracks to the width and depth indicated on the drawings by means of a power driven concrete saw with diamond or abrasive blades, random-crack grinder, or a vertical bit router capable of following the path of the crack and of widening the top to the required section without causing excessive spalling or other damage to the concrete. Immediately following the enlarging operation, the faces and opening shall be thoroughly cleaned with a high pressure water jet to remove all cuttings or debris remaining on the faces or in the opening.
3.1.4 Cleaning of Joints and Cracks: Following removal of existing sealing materials and reshaping of joints and cracks and immediately before installation of new joint filler and sealant, the joints and cracks shall be thoroughly cleaned until all laitance, curing compound, existing preformed joint filler, and protrusions of hardened concrete are removed from the sides and upper edges of the groove to be sealed. The exposed concrete joint faces and the pavement surfaces extending about 1 inch from the edges of joints and cracks shall then be sandblasted, using a multiple-pass technique with properly positioned and directed nozzles until the surfaces are free of dust, dirt, curing compound, preformed joint filler, old sealant, and any other material that might prevent bonding of the new sealant to the concrete____ A minimum of 150 cubic feet per minute of air at a nozzle pressure of 90 pounds per square inch shall be used for sandblasting and for final cleaning of the joints and cracks immediately prior to the application of the sealant.
3.1.5 Air Blowing: After cleaning by sandblasting, all dust, sand, water and other foreign matter in the joints and cracks shall be blown out with compressed air____
3.2 INSTALLATION OF JOINT FILLER: Joint filler material shall be of the sizes that will fit tightly in the joint and cracks and shall be installed with the top elevation as detailed on the drawings. Joint filler material shall be installed when the bottom of the opening to be resealed is formed by previously installed sealant, or if the groove or opening is of greater depth than indicated on the drawings, or as specified elsewhere. The [1237]*1237groove or opening shall be plugged or sealed to prevent entrance of the sealant below the designed depth. The joint filler shall not be stretched during insertion.
3.4 APPLICATION OF JOINT SEALANT:
3.4.2 Restrictions: No sealing material shall be applied over wet surfaces. Concrete surfaces shall be surface dry and all joints and cracks shall be filled to the depths indicated or specified____ The sealing work shall progress in the direction and prevailing wind so that dust resulting from the air blowing operation will not be carried back into the clean joints and cracks. No sealing work shall be started until the new concrete has cured. When rains interrupt installing operations, joints and cracks shall be re-cleaned prior to installation. Joint sealant shall not be installed using gravity methods and pouring pots.
3.4.3 Joint and Crack Sealing ... The joints or cracks shall be filled in one pass from bottom up to such a height that after cooling or curing of the sealant, the top of the sealant will be ¼ inch below the pavement surface. All excess sealant shall be removed from the pavement by approved methods without damaging the pavement surface and discarded____ All joint sealant shall be applied in a steady flow, filling all voids and cracks, leaving a smooth and level surface.

Under Federal Specification SS-S-200D, two types of sealants could be used to secure airfield joints: Type M, a machine-mixed, fast-cure sealant; and Type H, a hand-mixed, retarded-cure sealant. The detailed conditions for their use are as follows:

3.4.1 Type M sealant (fast curing). Type M sealant shall conform to the following requirements and conditions:
(a) Sealant shall be formulated for application with pressurized mixing and extruding equipment specified by model number to the contracting formulator____
(b) Mixing ratio shall be by volume, one part component A to one part component B plus or minus 5 percent variation.
(c) The viscosity of each component A and component B shall be not greater than 2,000 poises____3
(d) Working life of the homogeneous mixture of the sealant shall be formulated for such time duration (working life) at conditions ... to allow the use of the specified equipment to mix and extrude the material and to seal a prepared concrete joint with performance properties as specified herein.
(e) Tack-free time for the sealant at standard conditions shall be not greater than 3 hours after application____

3.4.2 Type H sealant (retarded cure). Type H sealant shall conform to the following requirements, at standard conditions:

(a) The sealant shall be formulated for manual mixing and pouring or extruding application. One component of the sealant may be supplied in dry particle form.
(b) Mixing ratio component A to component B shall be supplied in preproportioned containers.
(c) The viscosity of component A or component B shall be not greater than 1500 poises at standard conditions, except when one component is powder, [1238]*1238the liquid component shall not exceed 500 poises____
(d) The working life of the homogeneous mixture of sealant shall be not less than 1 hour after mixing at standard conditions specified herein.
(e) The tack-free time for the sealant shall be not greater than 12 hours after application____

Fed.Spec.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Aircraft Gear Corp. v. Kaman Aerospace Corp.
856 F. Supp. 446 (N.D. Illinois, 1994)
Robin Industries, Inc. v. United States
29 Fed. Cl. 122 (Federal Claims, 1993)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
38 Cont. Cas. Fed. 76,402, 26 Cl. Ct. 1234, 1992 U.S. Claims LEXIS 437, 1992 WL 234098, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hawaiian-bitumuls-paving-v-united-states-cc-1992.