Special solutions needed to renovate Eger's imposing Baroque palace

A major and complex renovation of a significant historic building has been completed this year. During the reconstruction of the Archbishop's Palace of Eger, which lasted nearly ten years, the first part of the central building was renovated, followed by the construction of the south wing and finally the north wing. The Archbishop's Palace has been the residence of the archbishops of the city of Eger since 1740. Bishop Antal Gábor Erdődy and architect Giovanni Battista Carlone were responsible for the first major elements of the building. The building, built between 1715-32, was smaller than the present building, but probably much grander, with gardens, pools and an aviary.

Noble tiles, high quality wallpapers, beautiful inlaid floor tiles

Working on the renovation of the Palace building was an honour for all the companies involved, as the Baroque palace, built in the 1700s, has a very important ecclesiastical and tourist function, and is still home to the second most important personage of the Hungarian Catholic Church, the Archbishop of Eger.

During the nearly 10-year renovation of the building, the client expected the highest possible quality and chose materials of outstanding standard. In connection with this, the renovation of the cold and warm coverings in the archbishop's palace was also carried out using Mapei products: 30x30x2 cm limestone slabs were laid in the corridors and common areas, which were installed by SZépítésZ EGER Kft., who was also the general contractor for the construction work on the north wing.

Its fragile condition and its construction and structural solutions justified the need to create a flexible layering system, capable of compensating for possible stresses and the resulting movements, after the demolition of some of the built elements of the Palace and the construction of a new concrete base, which would also protect the high-value limestone slabs from damage. This is why the MAPETEX SYSTEM was chosen to provide stress relief. The steps of the overall solution were as follows:

• Foundation of new concrete substrate with PRIMER G primer
• Levelling with ULTRAPLAN ECO 20 levelling agent
• Laying and bonding of MAPETEX TEXTIL with ULTRALITE S2 high deflection adhesive
• Laying the thick limestone paving ULTRALITE S2 with adhesive
• Grouting ULTRACOLOR PLUS with grout
• Sealing of joint gaps with MAPESIL LM non-staining gap sealer for natural stone.

Laying ceramic tiles

The 60×60 cm ceramic floor tiles were laid in the palace restaurant. The work was preceded by the construction of a mechanical shaft under the receiving base, in which the water, electricity and ventilation systems were installed. This was followed by concreting, bituminous waterproofing and thermal insulation, and finally the construction of the receiving base concrete for the covering layer. Due to the large size of the tiles and the resulting covering pattern, it was necessary to use the MAPETEX SYSTEM here as well. Thanks to the MAPETEX SYSTEM, it was not necessary to transfer the expansion joints into the covering, which would have spoiled the covering pattern envisaged for the 800 m² area. The layer order was the same as the solution already used for the limestone covering:

• PRIMER G primer,
• ULTRAPLAN ECO 20 equalisation,
• MAPETEX SYSTEM (ULTRALITE S2 gluing),
• grouting with ULTRACOLOR PLUS.

Only for filling gaps did the specialist contractor's staff use a different product, MAPESIL AC silicone-based acetic acid compound, as there was no risk of discolouration in the case of ceramic tiles.

Inlaid parquet flooring design

The inlaid parquet flooring was laid in the dining room, which is richly decorated with plaster stucco, frescoes, ornate furniture, wooden wall panels and doors and windows. Here too, the installation of the warm flooring was preceded by demolition and then the creation of a suitable substrate layer. To level the new receiving surface, the contractors used ULTRAPLAN ECO levelling compound was used to level the new receiving surface, and ULTRABOND ECO S955 adhesive was used to bond the wooden parquet.

After laying the parquet flooring, the ULTRACOAT varnish system was used by the specialists at SZépítésZ Kft. to finish the surface. The surface of the glued parquet was sanded, and the joints were filled with a mixture of sanding dust and ULTRACOAT BINDER. This was followed by fine sanding again, then priming with ULTRACOAT UNIVERSAL BASE. The two-layer varnishing was then followed by ULTRACOAT HT 2K Mapei product.

Sports surfacing

The Mapei MAPECOAT TNS MULTICOMFORT sports surfacing system provided the solution for a 21st century, modern renewal of the old, cracked, potholed asphalt handball court in the palace garden. The specialist installation was carried out by Cívis Park Builders Kft., who have been using TNS systems for many years with a high level of expertise.

After sanding the old asphalt, the surface was repaired and levelled using ADESILEX P9 adhesive and LATEX Plus flexibility-enhancing additive mixture was applied to the surface. As the first step in creating the sports flooring, a 4 mm thick layer of MAPECOMFORT R rubber underlay was laid on the available substrate, which was then covered with ULTRABOND Turf 2 Stars adhesive. The MAPECOAT TNS Primer EPW two-component epoxy primer, they were fixed with MAPECOAT TNS White Base Coat coloured acrylic resin primer and filler paste containing selected fillers. This was followed by MAPECOAT TNS FINISH, MAPECOAT TNS COLOR and MAPECOAT TNS PAINT acrylic resin coating was applied, and finally the lines were marked with MAPECOAT TNS LINE water-based, coloured acrylic resin paint.