Deck hunting season is open!
The MacLennan staff are starting to emerge from the basements, blinking in the sunlight and preparing to work on decks. Winter work on basement decks is at best difficult and at worst, carried out incorrectly in poor conditions.
Sprayed and hand applied liquid Waterproof systems should never be applied on damp decks. They should never be applied when the ambient temperature is not at least 3 degrees above the dew point, even if the sun is out. We rely on bond to resist outgassing.
This applies to most forms of waterproofing on decks and around basements. Even the sheet membranes normally have a primer which relies on the dry warm conditions for installation.
Planning a basement.
If you are planning a basement you should be sequencing the work so as the critical deck and external waterproofing is carried out in the spring, summer and early Autumn.
If the work has to be carried out in the winter then you have to cost in Winter primers, tenting, frost blankets, installing and removing covers, drying of surfaces and downtime when work just cannot happen unless fully tented and heated.
All of this preparation is very rarely considered even when set out in supporting information and data sheets supplied by contractors and manufacturers.
This is all critical.
If you allow or worse force the work to happen in inappropriate weather and environmental conditions you will have failures.You cannot apply waterproofing the day after rain, you need at least a good days drying after the water has been cleared off of the deck.
