The cost of ignoring it
Water is the upstream cause of most remedial scopes. A leaking balcony membrane ignored for three years is concrete cancer, timber rot and interior damage waiting on a special levy — the membrane was the cheap fix.
The defect, plainly
Most “waterproofing failures” are detail failures: upturns terminated short, penetrations unsealed, movement joints bridged, no falls to drainage, or a membrane specified for the wrong exposure. The visible symptom — efflorescence, drummy tiles, stained ceilings, ponding — is usually downstream of the actual entry point.
Diagnostic approach
Find the breach first, then scope the repair:
- Moisture mapping of affected and adjacent areas to establish the wet footprint
- Flood testing of suspect zones in isolation — methodical, one variable at a time
- Electronic leak detection on accessible membranes to localise breaches without demolition
- Thermal imaging to trace water paths behind finishes
- Detail inspection at upturns, penetrations, drainage and junctions — where most failures live
The report identifies entry points, the water path, consequential damage, and repair options ranked by intervention level — from detail repair to full membrane replacement.
Repair methodology
The specified system is matched to exposure and trafficability: liquid-applied polyurethane or PMMA for complex details and falls correction, sheet systems for large trafficable decks, injection for live structural cracks. Substrate preparation, primer, detail reinforcement, membrane, and protection are each hold-pointed with photographs — because a warranted membrane is only as good as the substrate records prove it is.
Where this shows up
Balconies and terraces, podium decks and planters, rooftops and plant decks, below-grade walls and lift pits, bathrooms over habitable rooms in strata buildings.