The job
Amira Apartments is a beachfront apartment building on Main Beach Parade at Main Beach, on the Gold Coast. Remcon, a Gold Coast remedial contractor, was re-waterproofing nine of the balconies and the ground floor perimeter of the building. Before the new membrane could go on, the old finishes had to come off and the concrete had to be clean and sound.
Remcon brought in Perfect Concrete Care for the demolition and surface preparation, as they did on Magnoli Apartments at Palm Beach and Mantra On View in Surfers Paradise. Our Queensland crew did the work in two stages: the balconies in April 2026 and the ground floor perimeter in July 2026, with residents living in the building throughout.
What the work involved
Stage 1, balconies, April 2026
- Jackhammering the tiles, bedding and topping off nine apartment balconies back to the structural slab
- Removing the old waterproof membrane and grinding the slabs back to bare concrete with floor grinders, then detailing the upturns and corners with hand grinders
- Carrying the rubble out in tubs and buckets through each unit and down to the bin, and leaving every balcony clean
Stage 2, ground floor perimeter, July 2026
- Floating in a 1.7 tonne excavator to strip the turf and pebble garden and dig out along the building edge, with hand digging close to the walls
- Removing the paver edge strip, hammering the render and topping off the base of the walls, and grinding the walls and slab edge on the north, south and east sides
- Stripping the tiles and bedding off one more balcony and hammering the topping back to the membrane in a courtyard under plastic protection
- Backfilling the east garden once the work there was done
What made it hard
People were living in the building. Every bucket of rubble from the balconies had to come out through someone's apartment, so floors were protected, noisy work kept to set hours and each unit left clean at the end of the day.
The balconies were not all the same. Some had more topping under the tiles than others, so each one was broken out and assessed on its own before grinding.
The perimeter work was in the ground, against the building, around gardens, stairs and paths that had to be protected. The machine could only get so close, so the last of the digging along each wall was done by hand.
How it was done
On the balconies the tiles and bedding came off with electric breakers, then floor grinders took the membrane off the open slab and hand grinders on shrouds and vacuums did the upturns, corners and edges. Balconies were worked one or two at a time and handed to Remcon as they were finished.
For the perimeter, the excavator stripped and dug the garden beds, the crew hand dug the last of the soil off the wall, then the render and topping were hammered off and the walls and slab edge ground back side by side around the building. Mud and dust were vacuumed up as the work went, and the waste was loaded out daily.
Outcome
All nine balconies were handed over as bare, clean concrete in April 2026. The ground floor perimeter, the extra balcony and the courtyard followed at the end of July 2026, ready for the waterproofer.
Lessons learned on this job
Every job teaches the crew something. These are the ones we took from Amira Apartments.
What worked
- Working the balconies one or two at a time, so each balcony was out of use for as short a time as possible and Remcon could follow behind us
- Floor grinders on the open slab and hand grinders for the upturns and corners, so every face the membrane turns up onto was prepared
- A small excavator for the bulk of the perimeter digging, with hand digging against the walls so the building was not touched by the machine
What was difficult
- An occupied building, where every load of rubble came out through a resident's apartment
- Balconies with different build ups under the tiles, so no two took the same time
- Digging and grinding at ground level around gardens, stairs and paths that had to stay protected
If you have something similar
Remedial contractors, strata managers and builders re-waterproofing an occupied apartment building need the old finishes off cleanly without upsetting the residents. Have a look at our waterproofing and membrane removal Gold Coast, concrete grinding Gold Coast and surface preparation pages, or get in touch and tell us what needs to come off.
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