I thought I would share some images of the cowboys work I come across!
The above basement tanking image shows how bad and how low some of them will go. This is a basement that was tanked in Bath, they actually tanked around the string of the stairs which of course ended up suffering from fungal decay. The tanking was actually applied to a sand and cement mix of most probably 6-1 (weak) and they tanked over the metal bead which expanded as it rusted causing more problems! And as for the floor….. it was just left as a screed with no form of tanking. This property had a Newton membrane 500 system installed by us.
The above image is of a failed tanking job in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, we were called to carry out a survey to find the cause of the damp problems and any associated costs. The previous contractor had tanked directly on the brickwork with no vertical dpc and the salts had started to come through 18 months after the work was carried out. As you can see the tanking was only carried out 800mm off of the floor instead of 1200mm( the customer was on holiday when this work was done). They also failed to seal the floor and wall joint with tanking and as you can see is damp, this caused the the skirting board to rot.
This is what I found on a destructive basement waterproofing survey in Frome Somerset, the walls were boarded on the initial survey and obviously I didn’t know what form of waterproofing was behind the plasterboard. The previous contractor had slapped on some black jack and done a runner!
Bad design, bad bad bad bad! The above image shows a externally applied bituthene which failed for a number of reasons, number 1 being that no maintainable drainage was installed and number 2 being that the back fill was stone and mud instead of 20mm clean stone. I would always recommend this is installed with a type c, that being the Newton 500 system.
This huge barn conversion was built into a hill and failed, the builder installed a base drain in the cavity with no outlet, but it had a jetting eye!!!!!!!!……… when it rained the water came pouring through. When I carried out my survey I just couldn’t believe that somebody would actually try and install this with no experience, well I take it he had no experience. Everything was so badly designed and detailed it was always going to fail and it also cost him lot’s of money!
This is what was found in a damp property in Trowbridge, Wiltshire. The previous damp proofer used a flooring membrane on the wall to isolate any damp.
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