After 16 years of operation, the “Galerie Roter Turm” shopping centre in Chemnitz has been modernized in terms of appearance and function. Large tiles have been laid over an area of about 3,000 square metres, without any interruptions to normal business. To ensure that visitors did not suffer any inconvenience during the six and a half months of alterations, all the work was performed at night. This posed a challenge which called for harmonized tile fixing products in addition to good planning and expert workmanship. While the planning office iproplan® was responsible for planning and supervising work on the project, wall and floor coverings were laid by CERA-XXL GmbH of Chemnitz, a tiling contractor specializing in large sizes. PCI Augsburg GmbH provided advice during the planning stage and supplied the tile fixing products.

Daytime shopping and night-time working

To avoid any adverse impact on business, the tiling team worked only at nights for the entire duration of the project. Surfaces tiled during the night were to be ready for use at 8 a.m. the next day, while the surfaces to be worked on during the next night shift also had to be prepared. All the surfaces had to be suitable for pedestrian access without any tripping hazards. To meet this tight time schedule, the tiling contractor needed fast-setting materials. For Michael Franke, Managing Director of CERA-XXL, it was clear from the outset: “This project was a challenge in every respect – restricted working times, short time cycles for individual steps and large tiles. It was quite clear that we were going to use PCI products for the work. As a result of the short setting times of these products, we were able to complete various steps in rapid succession and to release the tiled surfaces for use by visitors every morning, which was especially important in this case.

Optimum substrate preparation

The first step was to mill and grind the existing concrete stone covering. Hollows were repaired and joint gaps were filled with odourless PCI Apogel SH silicate casting resin. The surface was then primed with PCI Gisogrund 303 and level markers were positioned for the levelling layer. In order to compensate for later stress and cracking of the substrate, the craftsmen laid PCI Pecilastic isolating underlay on the prepared substrate using highly elastic PCI Flexmörtel S2 Rapid adhesive.

Large-scale tiling

The building owner had selected extremely large tiles. The floors were covered using MAXFINE fully vitrified tiles (manufacturer: irisFMG) in sizes 300 x 100 cm and 300 x 150 cm; Neolith fully vitrified slabs with dimensions of 360 x 120 cm were used on the walls. The tiles and slabs had to be laid with extreme precision right down to the last millimetre. The CERA-XXL team used PCI Flexmörtel S2 Rapid tile adhesive, which reliably absorbs stress from the substrate and allows the new tiling to be walked on after only five hours thanks to its short setting time. “As we were working under extreme pressure of time, this tile adhesive was precisely the right choice,” Michael Franke from CERA-XXL explains. “It sets extremely fast, is highly elastic and has excellent non-sag properties – all in all, it’s a real problem solver.” The master tiler was also convinced by the PCI joint grout. PCI Nanofug Premium allows extremely convenient working with a time window of about 40 minutes. Its main benefits are its fine surface and its glossy appearance.

Step-by-step to a large-scale shopping experience

The alteration work was carried out between 2 May and 21 November 2016. The planners and tiling team were highly satisfied with the extremely successful results. “Cooperation between everyone concerned was really outstanding,” says Michael Franke, who emphasises the continuous support provided by PCI. “The well-founded advice provided by the PCI team was extremely useful. We could be sure of using products that would harmonize ideally with each other for every step and completing the work as quickly as possible.”