In this blog, I would like to revisit the issue of water leakage into the garage during rain. This is very common in Melbourne. For more than 10 years of practice, we have not seen a garage where builders would have done exterior waterproofing during construction. This may be related to the builders’ desire to save money or them sincerely believing that a garage is not a living space, and the potential water ingress from the outside does not matter (it will dry out eventually and that’s it), or there may be other reasons – it is not for us to judge. The fact is that, if you have a brick garage, you should know that the exterior walls have no waterproofing. Unless the previous owner has done it additionally at his own expense.
Nowadays, it is quite popular to convert a garage into a living space, and the Council requires confirmation of the completed waterproofing. Some people do waterproofing using silicone from the inside. Some cover the walls from the inside with a waterproofing membrane purchased at Bunnings. We even saw outside “waterproofing”, where the “experts” dug up the soil and glued black plastic to the wall from the outside.
Naturally, all these “masters” do not give any guarantee, because it simply cannot work. There is a lot of information on our website about the exterior waterproofing that we perform.
Here I would like to talk once again about the situation when it is not possible to dig up the ground and do exterior waterproofing. We perform our signature “Triple Protection”.
In 95% of cases, water penetrates the garage through the Wall-Floor joint. This is where the concrete foundation ends, and the brick wall begins
The first step is the resin injection. The resin is injected into the joint under high pressure, filling all the cracks, gaps, and voids. Moreover, the product expands when in contact with a damp surface, leaving no voids inside the joint.
This eliminates the possibility of water finding a way from the outside into the garage. This procedure alone is usually enough to prevent water ingress.
Waterproofing Melbourne | Internal Wall Waterproofing | Damp Proofing | Rising Damp | Waterproofing Rising Damp
| Internal Waterproofing | Lateral Damp | Garage Waterproofing | AWC Group| Penetrating Damp | Crack Injection |
External Waterproofing | External Wall Waterproofing
This is a video of the injection process, to lighten up the mood.
But – we do a second step: Using a special hydro-cement, we create a Fillet at a 45-degree angle. This alone can sometimes be enough to stop water leakage.
Waterproofing Melbourne | Internal Wall Waterproofing | Damp Proofing | Rising Damp | Waterproofing Rising Damp
| Internal Waterproofing | Lateral Damp | Garage Waterproofing | AWC Group| Penetrating Damp | Crack Injection |
External Waterproofing | External Wall Waterproofing
However, we also do a third step: We apply 2-4 layers of waterproofing membrane designed for negative pressure.
The height of the membrane application above floor level depends on the level of the ground outside the wall. We apply the membrane 100mm above the existing ground level behind the wall.
Waterproofing Melbourne | Internal Wall Waterproofing | Damp Proofing | Rising Damp | Waterproofing Rising Damp
| Internal Waterproofing | Lateral Damp | Garage Waterproofing | AWC Group| Penetrating Damp | Crack Injection |
External Waterproofing | External Wall Waterproofing
This membrane is “breathable,” it holds water well but does not protect the wall from penetrating moisture.
Therefore, after completing everything, we apply 2 more layers of epoxy membrane to prevent moisture penetration.
Waterproofing Melbourne | Internal Wall Waterproofing | Damp Proofing | Rising Damp | Waterproofing Rising Damp
| Internal Waterproofing | Lateral Damp | Garage Waterproofing | AWC Group| Penetrating Damp | Crack Injection |
External Waterproofing | External Wall Waterproofing
