The importance of proper waterproofing: Part 1

Buying a home or building a brand new one, is possibly one of the most exciting things we can undertake if we are lucky enough to get the opportunity. Whether taking on a new or existing house, everyone hopes that everything inside the walls is dry, and solid.

Unfortunately, we are experiencing more and more shoddy work as a result of inexperienced or under-qualified 'handymen'. This creates a lot of stress and an unexpected hit on people's finances.

Proper waterproofing of bathrooms is not overly complicated if you know how, but it is critical. The smallest gap or crack in a membrane can lead to an entire bathroom or kitchen being written off from poisonous black mould, and soggy 'weetbix' wood. There should always be a contingency plan... if water penetrates one layer, the next layer will still protect the framing.

Our latest bathroom project in Auckland's Mt Roskill, lead to the family moving out for three weeks while we repaired what could have been a disaster. On the surface everything looked relatively fine. However, we revealed that the bath was maybe a year away from falling through the floor, and the rotten floor spread to the studs, meaning that 2 out of 4 of the walls were hanging from the ceiling instead of holding the ceiling up.

The final result looks great and the family is really happy!