News Center Home > Flooring > Case Study Canterbury Park (Retirement and independent living complex) LOCATION Longview, Wash. PRODUCT LEVELROCK Brand FLoor Underlayment 2500 PROJECT OWNER Emmett Koelsch Construction GENERAL CONTRACTOR Emmett Koelsch Construction LEVELROCK APPLICATOR DNH Construction, Inc. "I've talked to a lot of applicators, and they say the LEVELROCK Brand underlayment is the easiest to work with." Doyle Hubbard Owner DNH Construction Inc. NOTE: This page is formatted to print out as a USG LEVELROCK Brand Floor Underlayment Case Study. The print format differs slightly from Web page format. LEVELROCK® Brand Floor Underlayment Reduces Construction Time on $9 Million Retirement Complex DNH Construction crew mixes LEVELROCK Brand underlayment in Longview, Wash. Imagine pouring 60,000 sq. ft. of gypsum underlayment in only four days. That's exactly what DNH Construction, Inc., was able to accomplish, using USG's LEVELROCK® Brand Floor Underlayment 2500 during construction of Canterbury Park, a new $9 million retirement and assisted living complex in Longview, Wash. Depending upon job layout, anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000 sq. ft. of LEVELROCK underlayment can be installed per day, and because it sets in just a few hours, other trades can get back in the area within a matter of hours. "It was amazing," said John Giese, job superintendant, Emmet Koelsch Construction, the general contractor and owner of Canterbury Park. "Within a couple of hours you could go back and walk on the gypsum floor." The speed of the LEVELROCK underlayment installation enabled Koelsch Construction to realize significant cost savings in comparison to the time it would have taken lightweight cement crews to do the work. And, unlike lightweight portland cement, LEVELROCK underlayment expands as it sets, reducing cracks and filling sound channels for superior acoustical performance. Approximately 60,000 sq. ft. of gypsum underlayment was poured at Canterbury Park. High Strength The LEVELROCK Brand product line has significantly raised the bar for poured gypsum flooring performance. The USG product offers a minimum compressive strength of 2500 psi. That's 40 to 50 percent higher than the typical strength of competing entry level poured gypsum cements (which usually range from 1200 to 1500 psi). The Canterbury Park architect was so impressed with the strength of the 1 1/2-inch LEVELROCK underlayment pour that he plans to specify shallower pours in the future. "Architects don't have to go as thick as they do with our competitors," said Doyle Hubbard, owner of DNH Construction Inc., "We have a stronger product." Quality Control USG has also implemented tight quality-control measures by certifying applicators, providing field guidance on pours and obtaining test samples from each project. Architect Loren Burk (left), site superintendent John Giese and DNH Construction estimator Bill Roper inspect the quality of the LEVELROCK underlayment. DNH Construction's front-end loaders have been fitted with specially calibrated sand buckets, and the materials pumps are equipped with a digital water meter to help regulate mixing. The pumps can quickly and perfectly mix water, sand and 100 80-pound bags of LEVELROCK underlayment every hour. The DNH screeder, a key player on the application team, uses a float with a depth gauge to keep the pour constant room by room. Hubbard also orders regular slump tests to keep tabs on the quality of the mixture. Only 90 minutes after pouring the building's second floor, Giese stood on the LEVELROCK underlayment in amazement. The surface was hard and smooth. "We usually see cracking when we use other brands," said Giese. "But with this product we haven't been able to find any cracks." These kinds of comments don't surprise Hubbard. "The response has been good from general contractors," he said. "I've talked to a lot of applicators and they say that LEVELROCK underlayment is the easiest to work with and holds up the best."