Wet Area Waterproofing: Mandatory First Time Right Approach

This made them to shut down 20 rooms (rooms attached to leaky bathrooms and those below the floor), incurring revenue loss of INR 15,000 per day per room. In addition, they must remove the commode, tile, glass partition, bathtub, screed etc. to redo the waterproofing. The whole process of refurbishing 10 toilets took 3 months and cost of around INR 5 Mn. The revenue loss at Rs.15,000 per day per room for 90 days and 20 rooms was INR 16 Mn.

Therefore, cost cutting on waterproofing always end up in spending five to ten times for rectification especially in wet areas.

Areas which are exposed to water 24/7 such as kitchens, bathrooms, toilets etc. are called wet areas. Thus, waterproofing of such areas become critical due to presence of moisture throughout. Major reasons for failure in wet area waterproofing are improper bore packing, dilution of products, wrong product selection, application, preparation, and protection of surface. Dampness not only remains in wet areas but also creeps into adjacent areas as well. This affects the aesthetics of surroundings and might cause certain health complications such as allergies and respiratory diseases. Poor waterproofing becomes ineffective in a short while, which can incur refurbishment cost. Another major issue with the failure of waterproofing in bathrooms is that impact of issue may not be the user of the space but to the person staying below the affected area. Some of the issues faced due to these leakages are raising dampness, flaking of paint, mould & fungal growth, corrosion of rebars etc.

Since it is important to avoid moisture build up in wet areas it must be addressed in the design and construction stages itself. In fact, waterproofing must also be a primary concern at the initial stages and should be dealt with during construction.

Design Considerations

Some of the considerations to be kept in mind while designing waterproofing are as follows:

Poor workmanship is the number one cause of waterproofing failures and includes - Poor surface preparation – unless the surface to be waterproofed is free from dust and dirt, the membrane will not bond properly to it and will eventually peel off. Poor application – the membrane needs to extend beyond the wet area, every millimetre must be covered & it must be installed to manufacturers recommendations. Improper selection of waterproofing product – a good quality waterproofing product must be used, as a low-quality membrane can fail.

Solution for wet area waterproofing:

Dr. Fixit Eautite is a versatile and innovative waterborne eco-friendly elastomeric copolymer waterproof liquid membrane. It is a single component solution which is specially designed for wet areas applications for sunken and under tiled finishes like bathroom, toilets, kitchens & service areas. Being a liquid applied system, it reduces installation time as it can be readily applied using brush or roller. It has very good flexibility and crack bridging properties and has high bond strength to a variety of substrates and building materials. 

Typical Applications and Technical compliances

Dr. Fixit Eautite can be applied over a wide range of substrates like concrete and masonry surfaces, drywall partitions, fiber cement sheeting, plasterboards, and concrete or clay brick surfaces. It complies with the technical requirements of Singapore Housing Development Board (HDB) for toilets, bathrooms and other wet area applications and Australian Standard AS 3740:2004 “Waterproofing of Wet Areas in Residential Buildings”. Eautite is also CFTRI certified, conforms to potable water contact parameters. 

Why Eautite:

Two components acrylic Cementious systems have issues of dilution at site, improper application, lack of proper curing and time required for proper mixing. On the other hand, polyurethane coatings will have issues of proper curing due to lack of moisture and ventilation in confined areas such as toilets and bathrooms. Hence there is a need for a fool-proof, easy applied, single component waterproofing system with better technical properties compared to the cementiotus systems for wet areas waterproofing. While addressing the above mentioned limitaions in wet area waterproofing, Dr. Fixit Eautite also complements the modern day requirements such as modular bathrooms, dry walls, flat slabs (non-sunk) and under tile applications. Hence, Pidilite recommends Dr. Fixit Eautite as the right solution for all types of wet area applications including bathroom, shower areas, balconies, kithchen, utilities and pantry areas.