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Hycrete Benefits
Risk Reduction with Hycrete System W
Membranes Work Perfectly In Theory, But Are Difficult to Install Correctly
How Leaks Happen With Membranes – Difficult To Trace, and Difficult To Fix
When Leaks Happen, Who Is To Blame and Who Gets Them Fixed?
How Hycrete System W can reduce these risks
Membranes Work Perfectly In Theory, But Are Difficult to Install Correctly
Membranes stop water from getting through. However, when joints are poorly installed, when adhesives aren’t applied properly, when substrates are uneven, and when the membrane gets torn, the membrane system doesn’t stop water penetration.
Two thirds of the cost of membranes is installation. And the installation is where mistakes are made. Look at all the construction labor in here – can you see how much risk you strip out of a project if you don’t have to rely on proper installation of a product whose cost is 2/3 installation.
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| A membrane is only as good as its installation. Poor workmanship can easily lead to leaks in the future. |
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How are membranes applied to uneven substrates, such as soldier piling, caissons, and cut rock? Someone is supposed to prepare the surface and make sure it’s even. Often it’s not clear who that someone will be. And surface preparation is difficult and expensive to do, and often not done well. |
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If it’s badly consolidated, even concrete can form an uneven substrate for membranes. Preparing honeycombed concrete will cost money and cause delays. |
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| Hurried membrane application can easily lead to leaks. Many contractors don’t want to wait 4 weeks until a substrate is dry, or longer if it rains before it’s fully dry. |
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If the substrate isn’t completely dry before membrane application, the evaporating moisture can cause blisters in the membrane. These are easily ripped open by mistake. |
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Even if a membrane is perfectly applied, it can still be ripped. These tears are often covered up by embarrassed subcontractors, only to cause unidentifiable leaks in the future |
How Leaks Happen With Membranes – Difficult To Trace, and Difficult To Fix
With regular concrete, it’s impossible to tell where the leak has come from. And even if you do fix the leak from the inside, the source of the trouble is still there. The water will migrate to another crack in the concrete, in a few weeks, months, or maybe years, and you’ll have a new leak. Membranes deteriorate over time, so as the building gets older, leaks are more likely.
When Leaks Happen, Who Is To Blame and Who Gets Them Fixed?
When membranes leak, it’s often difficult to work out who is to blame. It could be the waterproofing contractor who didn’t install the membrane properly. It could be the design professional who missed out a few key details. It could be the general contractor who asked the membrane contractor to accelerate and get the membrane applied before the substrate was ready. It could be another contractor damaging the membrane – easily done with rebar or earth-moving equipment.
The general contractor and architect / waterproofing contractor are usually the people charged with fixing leaks. They’ll speak to the contractors involved, and everyone is likely to say “It’s not my fault.” Usually the owner ends up paying, and they may sue the design professional or contractor to recoup their losses. This leads to increased liability fears.
How Hycrete System W can reduce these risks
With Hycrete System W, you have the IntegraTek Warranty – “If it leaks, we fix it”
No finger pointing.
No chasing around trying to find someone to take responsibility
We know that concrete cracks, and we fix any cracks that leak.
With Hycrete System W, we fix the cracks that leak. Most cracking occurs in the first three months, as the concrete dries out. And once the crack is fixed, it’s not going to migrate somewhere else and leak again. As the waterproofing is protected inside the concrete – it won’t get damaged and it won’t wash out. You’re protected against leaks in the short term and in the long term.
Contact usto learn more about how to reduce your waterproofing risks by using membrane-free waterproofing with Hycrete System W.
