Your home waterproofing starts with the pouring of the strip footings, traditionally no waterproofing is required however a waterproofing admixture can be added to the concrete to make these footings impervious to moisture.
The concrete slab is then poured onto a waterproof membrane as can be seen on the diagram supplied by aibs.businesscatalyst.com as an acceptable method based on the Building Code of Australia.
The membrane on the edge of the slab is held in place by the stepped flashing, this method ensures that the concrete slab is protected from moisture in the soil.
Weep holes in the vertical mortar joints of the external brick course marked with an X allows for any water that gets into the cavity to run onto the flashing and drain out. The weep holes also allow air movement and this helps to keep the cavity dry.
Any below ground walls, planter boxes and retaining walls will need to have a membrane layer applied to the external surface to stop moisture from penetrating to the other side. The area most prone to failure is the first course of brickwork onto the footings, advisable to have a reinforcing bandage applied along the whole length of the walls to cover this cold joint.
Then depending on the quality of the backfill that is going to be used to bring the soil level back up to ground level, further protection in the form of thick black plastic sheeting to rubber sheeting may be required to protect the membrane layer from building and other rubble from piercing through this membrane layer.
More Information
For more information on home waterproofing, Building Codes, or our products including Admixture and Flexible Waterproofing Membranes please Contact Us.
