Helical Bars and Crack-Stitching Kit
Vista’s helical bars are commonly used in remedial situations. These include providing masonry reinforcement, restoring cracks of any type and the subsequent needling of double walled masonry. The bars can also be applied in new build situations such as being used as a wall connector, a cavity wall anchor with or without insulation and driven with a hammer directly into soft structures for stabilising and fastening.
Helical Bars
Helical bars are an effective and reliable solution for providing stability to damaged masonry. Vista offers a range of 4.5mm, 6mm, 8mm and 10mm diameter helical bars, all in lengths of 500-3000mm.
Rolled from plain round wire, the fins are work-hardened to a very high level whilst remaining relatively soft. The flexibility of the helical bars allows for repairs to be made at building corners. Furthermore, they can easily be incorporated into older masonry which has a more random brick configuration. The subsequent twisting process puts the fins into tension and the core into compression. The tension through the twisting process ensures that any impurities in the base material are detected early, helping to produce a safer product. The tensile strength of the material is more than doubled during the manufacturing process. The pronounced fins over the core make the bonding characteristic of helical bars a far superior alternative to standard reinforcing materials. Each bar is manufactured from high quality 304 stainless steel.
Crack-Stitching Kit
As well as the helical bars, the range includes a Crack-Stitching Kit. The kit includes tools, both hand and power adaptors, grout and grout guns – everything you need for successful and correct fixing of the product. The system has a number of benefits such as helping to repair damage quickly, eliminating costly reconstruction issues, minimising the likelihood of further cracking and requires no specialist skills when installing the product. It is the only fully certified crack-stitching kit on the market.
Installation
The following steps should be taken when installing the crack-stitching system:
- Set the chasing equipment to the appropriate depth and cut a horizontal slot to the required width in the mortar bed. (This should be a minimum of 500mm either side of the crack)
- Remaining debris should be removed from the slot using a suitable air pump
- Wash out the slot using clear water
- Use both the powder and liquid in their entirety when mixing the grout with a paddle
- Insert the content of the grout into grout gun
- Insert the grout in a continuous bead to the back of the opening
- Gently insert the helical bar into the bed of grout using the finger trowel
- Apply another bead of grout and compress
- Use the remaining grout to fill any voids in the masonry
If you would like more information regarding these products, please contact sales on 01633 736 700 or email us at marketing@vistaeng.co.uk.