Sheer wellness:

Perfect grip in the 5-star Hotel Hohe Düne

Sheer wellness:

Perfect grip in the 5-star Hotel Hohe Düne

Thousands of hotel guests with suitcases and bags: difficult conditions for full refurbishment of the entrance lobby

A complete refurbishment of the entrance lobby was due at the Hotel Hohe Düne at the yacht harbour in Rostock-Warnemünde after a good ten years. However, the conditions were difficult: The work had to be carried out while the hotel was still open. The substrate for the new natural stone XXL-size slabs was also cracked. But Gutjahr's IndorTec FLEXBONE 2E decoupling system helped to stick to the extremely tight schedule – and prevent future damage at the same time.

With its wellness hotel and congress centre, the Hohe Düne yacht harbour in Rostock is a complex like no other. The Olympic sailing competitions of the 2012 Summer Games would have taken place here in the facility that was created in 2005 if Leipzig had been successful with its bid for the Olympics.

It is not an everyday matter to renovate a hotel in such a location – particularly if the work has to be carried out while the hotel is still operating. But this was precisely the remit for installer Mathias Schreiber from Sanitz in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. His job was to completely refurbish the entrance lobby of the Hohe Düne conference hotel over an area of approximately 240 square metres in February 2016. The task: Completely remove the old natural stone floor from the hall and lay a new one while business continues "as usual".

Renovation with a tight schedule

The schedule was accordingly tight: he and his team only had ten days to fully renovate the hall. Under normal circumstances, a project such as this would take five to six weeks. The tradespeople also had to operate in an extremely clean manner and without a lot of noise – because the work was taking place in a well-frequented 5-star hotel.

Large size natural stone covering

Another challenge was the actual laying of the new covering, since the substrate was partially cracked and consisted of different layers. The client had also opted for large tiles - the biggest were 1.40 by 1.80 metres.

Under these special conditions, Mathias Schreiber had to be able to rely on two things: good cooperation between the different trades and perfect materials and systems.

He took care of the good cooperation himself. Mathias Schreiber contacted all of the companies beforehand and coordinated the work of the different trades. This also included the cutting work on the natural stone slabs. They were marked in the evening and cut at night so that they could be ready the following day. The installer was helped by the fact that his company specializes in implementing overall concepts for renovations from planning to implementation.

Floating laying = reliability

The coverings have permanent protection from damage by a floating decoupling mat, particularly XXL sizes!

System for critical substrates

When the XXL natural stone tiles were laid, each of which weighs up to 120 kilograms, Mathias Schreiber relied on the Gutjahr IndorTec FLEXBONE 2E decoupling system. Gutjahr developed the system specifically for laying ceramic or natural stone coverings indoors. The special feature is the floating installation. This means: it ventilates and decouples without having to be bonded to the substrate. This is particularly ideal with critical substrates, i.e. if the substrate is cracked. Coverings can also easily replaced with this decoupling system.

"The floating decoupling technology has proven itself over the past 15 years," says Gutjahr managing director Ralph Johann. “The loose laying at the Hotel Hohe Düne removed the need for underground work, which was an important success factor in this project. Because the tradespeople involved were under a considerable amount of time pressure. "

Advance product training

Mathias Schreiber had previously familiarised with IndorTec FLEXBONE 2E on a Gutjahr product training course, and had already worked with it on smaller projects. This was why he decided in favour of this system for the extensive renovation of the Rostock hotel lobby – despite the existence of other alternatives. However, his best experiences were with IndorTec FLEXBONE, and he was also impressed by the advice and project support provided by Gutjahr's field service.

On schedule

With the Gutjahr decoupling system and a total of ten employees, the team from "Bäder von Schreiber" managed to adhere to the tight schedule, despite the fact that not all of the material was delivered, and the remaining material did not arrive until the middle of the night.

It was also helpful that Mathias Schreiber was already familiar with the hotel complex from previous work. His company had already tiled swimming pools and renovated bathrooms there. Now he was able to propose the renovation concept for the entrance lobby – including Olympic-standard performance.