Sika and Zaharion’s prep & protect in Palm Beach County
Short, punchy, and sporting the parallelistic presentation typical of Ben Franklin. Yet, the simple adage lay at the heart of Bocaire Country Club’s renovation. When Bryan Zaharion surveyed the scope of work for the Boca Raton, Fla., project, he understood that extensive surface preparation was essential to a successful clubhouse retiling.
Built four decades ago, the country club was overdue for a refresh that could provide its members and residents with an enhanced, modern experience. Coinciding with a wider set of property improvements that included the addition of pickleball courts, a supplemental tennis court and a new playground, the clubhouse would receive updated dining areas, card rooms, locker rooms, bar, and member and staff restrooms. These spaces would feature smart, luxurious porcelain, ceramic and carpet surfaces to update the clubhouse’s character.
A track record for high-quality work
General contractor Proctor Construction leveraged its long relationship with Zaharion’s Flooring to bring the plan together. Zaharion understood that his family’s business was selected for the project due to its track record for high-quality work. “We’ve been in business for over 38 years,” he noted. “We have a reputation for doing the work right and completing projects properly.” To uphold its cultivated renown, Zaharion’s Flooring relied on its partnership with Sika to acquire materials and support that would guarantee a successful installation.
With the old finished surfaces removed, the property’s concrete slabs were littered with ruinous calling cards left by decades of heavy foot traffic and a fluctuating Florida water table. Extensive work was needed to correct the considerable subsurface flaws and render the slabs suitable for new finished surfaces. Therefore, Zaharion’s emphasis on quality manifested through a comprehensive three-week battery of surface preparation and substrate protection before the first tile was laid.
Zaharion’s crews began removing the old adhesive from the tortured, timeworn floors in June 2023. Once cleared, the crews followed up with several extensive pours of SikaLevel®-225 self-leveling underlayment to fill sunken portions of the unfinished floor and reestablish surface flatness. The leveling would make the surface suitable for the variety of tile and planks to be installed; however, its impact on the installations’ longevity would be limited. To protect the new surfaces from the effects of apparent subsurface movement, Zaharion’s crews applied SikaTile®-200 Fracture Guard Rapid. Sika’s liquid-applied crack-isolation membrane lent a flexible layer of elongation that extenuates present or eventual in-plane substrate cracks up to 1/8″ wide, preventing damage from transmitting through to the installed tile.
With the prep work complete and the stage set, Zaharion’s crews confidently proceeded to lay the clubhouse’s 13,000 sq. ft. of new tile. Large-format porcelain tile and planks were installed throughout the men’s and women’s locker rooms and restrooms. The porcelain was complemented by adjacent embellishments via Kertiles Verse Concept 12″x36″ tile in the men’s locker room showers, while the women’s equivalent featured Homestone CR white. The refreshed bar received a new 2″x10″ Ceramic Technics Marrado Art Deco matte white façade that harmonized with surrounding floor planks.
Sika solutions streamline installation and guarantee performance
Zaharion was no stranger to the Sika line of construction solutions. As one of the go-to flooring installation companies for commercial properties in South Florida, Zaharion’s Flooring understood the benefits derived from a full Sika solution for projects. “We used a lot of the SikaTile®-500 LHT Lite in all areas for the walls,” he pointed out. The lightweight mortar’s instant bond prevented the oversized tiles from sagging during installation. For the property’s horizontal surfaces, the crews deployed a product they had not used before.
“SikaTile®-475 [LHT Premium Set] we used for the lobby for adhesion purposes since it’s a stronger thinset. That was something new that we used on this project,” Zaharion said. “It’s a higher-end product that people tend to overlook. We used it because it was recommended, and our installers liked it. The product was well worth it.”
With the tile and planks installed, Zaharion’s crews applied two of Sika’s maintenance-free grouts to bring the hard-surfaces portion of the project to a close. High-performance SikaTile®-815 Secure Grout finished off the clubhouse’s vertical surfaces with hard, efflorescence-free joints. The floor surfaces were trusted to SikaTile®-825 Epoxy Grout for its ability to guarantee stain-resistant, color-consistent joints under punishing conditions. Together, the grouts intermingled with the finished surfaces’ muted tones to grant the Bocaire Country Club’s main hub a graceful, sober presence.
Tile work was completed in February of this year, while carpeting wrapped the following month. Without Zaharion’s drive to build upon his family’s legacy and his crews’ meticulous focus on surface preparation, the results would not have been as pleasing or secure as they turned out. Sika Senior Product Manager Tom Carroll attributes the project’s success to the professionalism and knowledge of all parties involved. “The longevity of a tile installation is entirely dependent upon the skill of the installer, the service level of its solution provider and the quality of the materials underneath,” Carroll stressed. “Bryan and his team unquestionably supplied that first component, and we are proud to prescribe a system solution that addressed the Bocaire Country Club’s unique conditions.”
