Exterior waterproofing is the most effective method of protecting your home from basement leaks. It’s also the one method of home waterproofing that involves the most work, especially during the soil excavation phase.

It’s certainly not a DIY project to be completed over a weekend. There are multiple steps involved. That’s why it’s important to have licensed professionals take on the job.

Everyone wants a dry basement. With more rainfall comes more water pressure on the foundations of the home. A small water leak plugged up by a sealant fix off a YouTube video can soon expand into a full home flood.

THE COSTS OF EXTERIOR WATERPROOFING

Cost estimates to fix water damage vary – but it’s in the thousands, all to repair or replace drywall, floors and hardwood, or anything electrical. Moisture will spare no part of the home – timber, block structures, floors, and bricks. Those home repair costs go up the more the water damage is left untreated, or if the homeowner is dealing with clean water as opposed to a sewer backup, or contaminated water. Around $1.7 billion is paid out in insurance claims due to water damage in Canada each year, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

The basement is often used as a living space for the family, a work area, or an income-generating rental apartment. The potential consequences in leaving the basement unprotected from water leaks are too dire. It’s vital to deal with any potential problems at the source.

Canada Waterproofers has 25 years of experience providing exterior waterproofing solutions across different home and property configurations all over the GTA. It all starts with a phone call and a free assessment.

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THE STEPS INVOLVED IN EXTERIOR WATERPROOFING YOUR BASEMENT

Canada Waterproofers provides solutions to all challenges, including a close proximity of neighbouring homes, and the impact a major excavation like this can have on the aesthetics of property, like trees and gardens.

What are the steps involved in exterior waterproofing?

• Protect work areas with tarps.
• Excavate down to the footing level or base of the home’s foundation, around the full perimeter of the home (which holds up the walls of the home), and expose the footing and wall ready for the waterproofing application. Often there is a bulldozer and other machinery involved in this.
• Clean the wall, repair cracks by grinding them out into a “v” and repair with hydraulic cement, applying a parging mix (meant to coat a water-resistant barrier). Hydraulic cement will expand as it is curing to cover up the cracks.
• Apply foundation aqua bloc, which provides a rubberized asphalt membrane on the top of the repaired cracks in the cement foundation.
• Apply fiber mesh (yellow jacket) for reinforcement and then another coat of aqua block and polyurethane (four-millimetres thick) for additional protection.
• Install Delta MS drainage membrane (made of long-lasting polyurethane and recyclable materials, another added feature which keeps your basement dryer) with delta clips, finishing the moulding along the top with tapcon screwsT
• Remove the old weeping tile and install a new “Big O” weeper with filter and connect to the existing weeping tile pipe, below the basement floor.
• Encase weeper (which sits on the soil) with ¾” clear gravel (one foot of gravel above the weeper), and then install the filter on top to separate gravel from soils. Without the gravel on top of the new perforated weeping tile/pipe, and the soil below it, the system won’t work, since dirt will clog the holes in the pipe.
• Backfill and compact the ground every two feet until backfilled.
• Install gravel finish, clean work areas and remove access debris from the site, re-planting the garden around the home if necessary.
• Important point – before any excavation is started, the hydro and gas companies, as well as Bell or Rogers, will need to be contacted, to ensure workers are not cutting or digging into pipes or lines.
• Install new window wells with drainage pipe if required.
• You also might want to install a sump pump (there should be a three-year manufacturer’s warranty on all mechanical pumps).

Exterior waterproofing is a comprehensive, labour-intensive process. The process can take a day, or one or two weeks, depending on the job. Get it wrong, and not only will water still be leaking into the basement, but you’ll have to dig everything up and go at it again. Nobody wants the extra money and the headaches that will come with that scenario.