Professional waterproofing
Waterproofing can be done well or it can be done poorly. In recent times many 'general' tradesmen have declared themselves expert – or at least capable – waterproofers and yet they have little experience or knowledge in this specialist field.
If your waterproofing job is important don't rely on anyone other than a professional waterproofing expert with testimonials and guarantees to back up their work,
A Strategic Approach
One of the things that sets a professional water proofing expert apart from the rest is the carefully considered approach taken to determine the best solution before any work starts.
A strategic approach is needed because, if we 'fix' the problem in one place the water will go somewhere else, potentially creating a new problem, unless we have developed a strategy to deal with this potential.
We determine the impact of our actions and the solution to ensure we fix the problem once and for all.
Procedures for a proper job
All waterproofing specialists we recommend have set procedures for determining:
- The most appropriate course of action for your job, and then
- Executing the job professionally and to your satisfaction.
Key elements of a sound procedure include:
- Listening carefully to the client:
- to clearly understand your needs and expectations, and
- to learn all we can about the background of the situation we're dealing with.
- Thoroughly evaluating the environment to identify all the factors that may influence a strategic approach to the problem.
- For example, if we're working with a wooden floor we will probably need a ceramic underlay laid to the total floor area before we can begin the waterproofing process.
- Specifically, making sure we have identified all the positive tanking and negative tanking options before we begin.
- Wherever possible we want to address the root cause. This is known as positive tanking as it keeps the water on the 'same side' as the source.
- Negative tanking is a more complex challenge and occurs when accessing the source of the leak is not possible nor is accessing the 'positive' side of the wall or similar we need to secure.
- Beginning the actual water proofing after any specific floor requirements have been addressed. While each job is different, a typical waterproofing job will involve:
- Polyurethane caulking to all joints, edges, and corners.
- Polyester tape over all joints, edges, and corners on top of the caulking coming a minimum of 100 millimetres up the wall from the floor.
- If there is any structural movement the tape will ‘take it up’ giving flexibility.
- A liquid primer over the entire surface to help ensure the membrane sticks to the surface.
- Two coats of the membrane.
- There are different membranes for different situations and selecting the best membrane for the job is essential. Our primary focus in getting the right membrane for your job is to ensure the stretch qualities fit the situation.
Typically the membranes we our specialists choose have a 300% stretch factor.
Membranes
- Trafficable membranes. You can walk on trafficable membranes and they are particularly suitable for high traffic areas such as balconies .
- Transparent membranes. These are perfect for use on a finished surface such as sand stone tiles, terracotta tiles, and walls.
- Two pack cementeous and epoxy membranes. Where there will be ongoing and considerable exposure to sunlight a two pack membrane is often the best choice. Think swimming pools, ponds , external planter boxes, and similar.
- Non slip membranes. Non slip membranes have a powdered caulk incorporated to create a non slip surface. They're great for around swimming pools and some external balconies .
- Heavy traffic membranes. If you need to waterproof an area where forklifts and cars will be driven across a heavy traffic membrane is the solution.
- Sheet membranes. You can lay sheet membranes down in sheets (as opposed to rolls) and then join sheet to sheet.
The join presents an unnecessary option for leaks and so is not generally favoured by Welcome Home Maintenance.
Ask us to find you a waterproofing specialist in your area.
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Waterproofing 
