MAPEI solutions for installing ceramic tiles in the pools and wet areas
The first ever spa baths in the town of Sibiu were completed in 1840, but it was only at the end of the 19th century that a large public spa centre was built. Baia Populara Sibiu, inaugurated in 1904, was founded under the management of Professor Karl Hocheder from Munich Technical University, a combination of neo-Baroque style and Jugendstil elements.
The centre included a large pool, a wet sauna and a dry sauna, 32 cabins for Turkish baths, showers, changing rooms, and separate rooms for massages and therapeutic baths. After a short while, more rooms were added to welcome incoming guests from more distant areas: in 1906 it became the Stadtpark healthcare centre and managed to accommodate up to 5,000 guests every year from all over Romania, Turkey and Germany.
Today, Baia Populara offers renovated and extended spaces, cutting-edge equipment and a restored and renovated structure to help maintain the beauty of its centennial history, while at the same time offering modern services to Romanian guests and tourists.
The renovation and extension work has made it much easier to access the various areas of the centre, including for people with special needs, and the range of services available has been extended: from rehabilitation therapies to massages using stones and water, and from anti-stress treatments to gym-based sports activities. There is a large swimming pool available for guests, as well as three saunas, a salt cave, two smaller pools, one with hot water and one with cold water, ample changing rooms and waiting rooms.
Products safe for use in damp surroundings and pools
Mapei Romania also took part in the renovation work on the spa complex, particularly with the supply of solutions to install glass mosaics in the pools and natural stone and ceramic tiles in damp areas (bathrooms, showers, changing rooms, etc.).
Cracks in the substrates were repaired with EPORIP two-component, solvent-free epoxy adhesive, which is particularly suitable for creating monolithic seals in cracked screeds.
The substrates were then levelled with a bonding slurry made from PLANICRETE synthetic latex.
The glass mosaic was bonded on the pools surfaces and on the walls of the wet areas with the KERABOND T-R + ISOLASTIC system. KERABOND T-R is a thixotropic cementitious adhesive distributed on the Romanian market by Mapei Romania. ISOLASTIC latex additive improves its bond to all types of substrates, as well as its deformability and impermeability.
Natural stone and ceramic tiles were bonded on floors of the wet ares with KERAFLEX MAXI S1 deformable, cementitious white adhesive with extended open time and no vertical slip.
The joints in the ceramic tiles were grouted with KERAPOXY two-component, anti-acid epoxy mortar, which forms extremely durable and hygienic joints with excellent mechanical properties.
Today Baia Populara is an historic spa centre promoting the tradition of “salus per acquam” with modern services, a perfect balance between the past and modernity.
Technical data
Baia Populara thermal baths, Sibiu (Romania)
Period of construction: 1904
Original designer: Karl Hocheder
Period of renovation: 2020-2021
Design: Guttmann Szabolcs
Period of the MAPEI intervention: 2020-2021
Client: Sibiu City Council, Public Services Department
Works Direction: Arhitect Service Guttmann & Co ARCHITECT; K&K Studio de Proiectare
Main contractor: Euras
Installation company: SC Aqua Tehnoserv SRL
Mapei Distributor: Arca Cluj
Mapei coordinator: Ovidiu Badea, Mapei Romania
Photos: Alexandra Bendea, K&K Studio de Proiectare.
MAPEI products
Preparing substrates: Planicrete, Eporip.
Installing glass mosaic: Kerabond T-R*, Isolastic.
Grouting joints: Kerapoxy.
