Case Study
Hyundai U.S. Headquarters
Project Overview
Location
Fountain Valley, California
Building
Hyundai U.S. Headquarters
Aeroseal Contractors
Healthy Homes 4U (a.k.a. Aeroseal West Coast)
Contract Engineer
Glumac
Goal
Meet required duct sealing codes for commercial new construction project
Before Aeroseal
14,861 CFM of leakage
After Aeroseal
808 CFM of leakage
Results
95% leakage reduction to meet building code for 5% or less leakage and finish the project on schedule
Type: Corporate
Hyundai's U.S. HQ Meets Exhaust Shaft Codes Using Aeroseal
The new Hyundai U.S. corporate headquarters was scheduled to open for business in just a few weeks. The finishing touches were being made to the interior of the 6-story, 500,000 sq. ft. building in Fountain Valley, California. No one was happy to learn that building engineers could not get official sign-off for the project because of duct leakage in the structure’s four smoke evacuation shafts and an outside air shaft.
Options for reducing the leakage and getting the shafts to meet code were examined. One option included using spray foam to seal visible leaks in the drywall interiors. But this would take months to accomplish, cost as much as $1,000,000, and there would be no guarantee spray foam would sufficiently reduce leakage. Then another option was found — Aeroseal duct sealing technology. Glumac had used the Aeroseal technology for a similar project in Las Vegas with successful results.
Fixing those leaks and getting sign-off on the project would initially have required us to tear into the newly constructed vents and start over. This scenario was unacceptable. We realized Aeroseal was the best option. It literally proved to be the project saver. With Aeroseal, we were able to effectively seal the leaks in just a matter of days.
Brian Berg
Engineer of Record - Glumac
Bob Evans, Senior Project Manager, Hyundai U.S.: “Aeroseal worked perfectly. All the shafts were quickly sealed to levels well within the code requirements. It was a real project saver and I would definitely use Aeroseal again.”
Results
It took the Aeroseal contractor only a couple of weeks to complete all five shafts. Leakage rates were reduced from 20% to 1.1% – well below current code requirements. The cost was just a fraction of the next lowest cost alternative. Best of all, the work was completed in time and Hyundai’s new U.S. corporate headquarters opened on schedule.
