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Geotechnical News • March 2013
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THE GROUT LINE
Quikrete products are widely avail-
able; this is a source of dye for small
grout jobs.
Dye colors discussion
ASTM C 979 recommends the use
of white Portland cement for dyed
concrete [or grout]; the use should be
minimally considered, but is strictly
not necessary—it was not used for
this trial (ASTM 2010). The authors
believe any proposed dye should meet
ASTM standard C 979 (ASTM 2010)
to ensure that the dye is compatible
with the cementitious grout. Gray
should be discouraged as a color
because Portland cement is commonly
gray; black should be used with great
care for the same reason. A contractor
should be required to submit actual
physical samples (e.g., hardened cubes
or cylinders) of dyed grout, possibly at
different concentrations, to ensure the
owner is satisfied with the amount of
dye included.
Conclusions
While dyed grout is not widely used
for foundation grouting, there are no
compelling reasons why it cannot be
used, when a reason exists for differ-
entiating grouts. ASTM C 979 should
be specified for dyes when colored
grouts are chosen to ensure that the
dye is compatible with the cementi-
tious grout. Contractors and owners
should consider the benefits of dyed
grout versus the costs.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the
Nashville District Engineering Branch
for the idea to dye the grout and cham-
pioning the contract modification, in
particular, Mr. Mike Zoccola. The
authors would also like to thank the
Judy Company for their work on the
above mentioned project and for their
support of this paper, in particular, Mr.
Pat Carr.
References
ASCE, 2010, Compaction Grouting
Consensus Guide: Standard 53-10,
Consensus Guide Committee,
American Society of Civil Engi-
neers, Reston, VA, 79 p.
ASTM, 2010, Standard Specifica-
tion for Pigments for Integrally
Colored Concrete: Standard
C-979, ASTM Committee C-09,
American Society for Testing and
Materials, ASTM C 979, West
Conshohocken, PA, 5 p.
Forgey, C., 2005, Changing the Color
of Concrete The technology
behind the trend, Concrete Interna-
tional, Volume 27, No. 6, Ameri-
can Concrete Institute, Farmington
Hills, MI, p. 78-82.
Houlsby, A.C., 1990, Construction
and Design of Cement Grouting, A
Guide to Grouting in Rock Foun-
dations: Wiley Series of Practical
Construction Guides, John Wiley
and Sons, NY, 442 p.
O’Neill, A.L., and Lyons, M.S., 1963,
Test Grouting for Oroville Dam:
Bulletin of the Association of
Engineering Geologists, 1 (1),
January, 28 p.
USACE, 1982, Grouting Technology:
Engineering Manual 1110-2-3506,
US Army Corps of Engineers, DC,
159 p.
Warner, J. 2004, Practical Handbook
of Grouting, Soil, Rock and Struc-
tures: John Wiley & Sons, Hobo-
ken, NJ, 720 p.
Quikrete, 2012, Cement Color:
Quikrete Corporation, Atlanta
GA, http://www.quikrete.com/
PDFs/DATA_SHEET-Cement%20
Color%201317.pdf, date
09/14/2012, 1 p.
Weaver, K. D., 1991, Dam Foundation
Grouting: ASCE Press, Reston,
VA, 178 p.
Brook E. Brosi
US Army Corps of Engineers,
Nashville District, 100 Power
Plant Road, Jamestown, KY 42629,
Brook.E.Brosi@usace.army.mil
Clay Rathbun
The Judy Company Inc, 8334 Ruby
Ave, Kansas City, KS 66111, crath-
bun@judycompany.com)
I hope you enjoyed the article as I did.
I commonly use dye in grout mixes
for jet grouting in test sections, so it is
possible to better analyze, in the exca-
vated columns, the behavior of the jet
and the superficial results.
I agree with the authors that the use
of dyed grout mixes can be beneficial
in trying to understand better what is
happening in the grouted fissures.
I additionally agree that little informa-
tion is available about this topic, so
if you have some experience on this
intriguing subject, please send me
your case history for publication.
For grouting stories, case histories or
only to comment, you can write to me:
Paolo Gazzarrini, paolo@paologaz.
com,
or
Ciao! Cheers!