This large new-build property in Surrey had a very large basement area which needed to be waterproofed to meet BS8102 requirements, the British Standard for the Protection of Structures Against Water From the Ground. Because it is not possible to determine the amount of potential water pressure surrounding a structure, BS8102 tells the designer to expect a head of water against the structure. In addition, BS8102 requires that all waterproofing is maintainable and repairable.
When the average person thinks about home ownership and home improvement, basement waterproofing is probably not the first thing to come to mind. And who can blame them? Basement waterproofing has never been particularly glamorous; but then again, neither is a damp and moldy basement.
There are a variety of benefits of having your basement or crawl space professionally waterproofed, and we’d like to outline 5 of them here.
Reported in the Irish Examiner today was the horrible story of a group of irish students being killed due to the suspected negligence of a waterproofing contractor.
The following document outlines the recommendations for effective type A waterproofing.
Compiled by the PCA, it contains contributions from waterproofing experts throughout the industry, our own Ian MacLennan is acknowledged for his contribution towards the guide.
“This document has been produced to provide guidance on the design, adoption and use of Type-A waterproofing in below ground structures. Type-A protection is defined by BS8102/2022 (Code of practice for protection of below ground structures against water from the ground) as ‘barrier protection’. This is where a material is put in place that offers a barrier to the passage of water with the aim of keeping the target environment within a prescribed level of ‘dryness’. Although generally referred to when looking at designing basement waterproofing, Type-A systems can be utilised for a number of different applications…” ( Click here to read more: PCA Type A Guidance )
Here at MacLennan we are dedicated to our constant development and take a keen interest in the future of the waterproofing industry.
If you would like to know more, Ian MacLennan offers a free 1 hour CPD seminar on waterproofing, completely catered to your needs (details of which can be found here).
The polyurea pioneer Dudley Primeaux offers a personal take on the state of the technology and its future in a video interview with Durability + Design Magazine.
