6 myths busted about waterproofing your concrete terrace!
You live in India
having a tropical climate that creates challenging
conditions for the concrete structures.
So read on the 6 myths regarding waterproofing of these structures
1. I will use extra iron
reinforcement that won’t allow cracks to occur hence my structure will be
waterproof.
a. Nope, doesn't works like that.
b. Iron &
Concrete expand and contract differently due to summer heat and winter cold.
c. A crack is a
natural result due to this difference of expansion and contraction!
d. This leads to
waterproofing problem two to three years later if a flexible crack bridging
waterproofing system is not present.
 |
| The typical waterproofing failure of concrete slab. |
2. I will put tiles
or marble on the terrace that will not allow my terrace to leak.
a. Well you are
wasting money if you are putting tiles or marbles for waterproofing your terrace.
You basically have created thousands of joints over a monolithic slab.
 |
| Joints are joints they will allow water to seep in and are too many to seal reliably. |
3. I will give very
good slope, that will just drain the water away from the terrace.
a. Seriously? What
do you thing will happen if it drizzles for 60 minutes and your concrete
terrace has some cracks?
4. I have used this
new type of RMC (Ready Mixed Concrete) that is promised to be waterproof by the company, I am tension
free.
a. Marketing is
marketing and then there is a concrete slab which is brittle having iron
reinforcement which cannot bypass effect of differences of thermal coefficient and
thus will crack.
 |
| Concrete will and shall crack. It is like that only! |
b. Definitely the
un-cracked slab will be waterproof, what is taking care of your cracks? Water
will always flow through the resultant cracks.
c. One more thing “settlement
cracks” which occur in every newly constructed building over the course of one
or two years. These marketing campaigns don't talk these “other non in control
factors”
5.
My painter has
told me that this new type of exterior paint is enough to waterproof my terrace
slab.
a. Seriously? You
think that this paint’s “Dry Film Thickness” will be enough to last and bridge
the cracks and long term ponding of water?
A basic Acrylic Cementitious Waterproofing membrane.
6.
My construction
contractor says that “none of his constructed building has ever leaked, the
water never came in the 28 days curing of slab, so no water proofing needed.
Waterproofing is all new age crap”
a. Aha, so
waterproofing system is not required for the life of the building as per his logic
and no cracks shall ever occur after your building contractor has gone.
Hope the above are points to
ponder on the logic of getting some real waterproofing integrated in your
construction projects.
Cheers
Hemant
