How to make waterproofing in the bathroom with your own hands

The bathroom is the wettest room in the apartment. Even special curtains and absorbent rugs cannot fully protect surfaces from water ingress, so the walls and floor in the bathroom need special protection. Taking care of the waterproofing for the bathroom, you will not allow moisture to penetrate under the finish to the concrete slabs overlap and prevent their premature destruction, leading to the need for capital repair. In addition, high-quality waterproofing of the bathroom will save you from serious financial losses in case of a pipe break or leak, from which neighbors from below could suffer. Making waterproofing is not so difficult - you can do all the work yourself.

Waterproofing Methods

To protect the floor from water in the bathroom, you can use special waterproofing materials. They can be divided into two large groups:

• spreading;
• okleechnye.

Coating waterproofing

It is a plastic material that forms a waterproof coating after application. The coating materials include:

• mastics based on bitumen or polymers with various fillers;
• polyurethane and cement-polymer mixtures;
• liquid acrylic waterproofing waterproofing.

Advantages of waterproofing for a plaster bath type:

• universality;
• ease and speed of application;
• the ability to protect almost any surface, for example with bumps or vertical.

Disadvantages of bitumen based mastics:

• instability to temperature extremes, leading to cracking;
• bad smell.

Polymer and polyurethane mixtures have practically no drawbacks, besides they have a very aesthetic appearance and are even more convenient in application compared to bituminous compositions.

Waterproofing waterproofing

It is produced in rolls or sheets and, in fact, is the same bitumen with a filler applied on fiberglass or polyester. This type of waterproofing includes:

• roofing material;
• isoplast;
• ecoflex;
• Isoelast and other similar materials.

Advantages of gluing waterproofing materials:

• reliability and durability;
• you can walk on them immediately after installation.

Minuses:

• great accuracy in the work is required;
• the complexity of the process;
• exactingness to a surface - differences should not exceed 2 mm.

Foundation preparation

Do-it-yourself waterproofing the floor in the bathroom begins with the preparatory work. What needs to be done at this stage?

• The floor surface must be cleaned to a concrete base.
• Regardless of which method of applying waterproofing for the bathroom is selected, the material should be laid on a flat base. Small cavities can be filled with cement mortar, but in some cases it will be necessary to make a leveling screed.
• The leveled floor is thoroughly swept and washed.
• The surface must be primed. The primer will not only provide good adhesion of the insulating materials to the base, but also enhance the waterproofing of the coating.

Important! When choosing a primer, pay attention to its compatibility with the type of waterproofing.

After the primer has completely dried, you can start applying or laying waterproofing materials.

The device of the coating hydrobarrier

How to make the waterproofing of the floor in the bathroom, made by yourself, turned out to be of high quality and durable? The algorithm of actions will be as follows:

• The lower corners of the room, where the walls are joined with the floor, are smeared with a layer of bitumen mastic.
• Then, a waterproof rubber-based tape is glued to the joints around the perimeter.
• The entire surface of the floor is covered with a continuous layer of mastic. In this case, it is necessary to capture a part of the wall adjacent to the floor to a height of 30-50 cm. It is convenient to use a wide brush or roller to apply the material.

Important! Waterproofing coating is applied in 2-3 layers. After applying each layer, breaks should be taken to dry it, each of which should last at least 24 hours.

After the mastics have dried, the surface is primed again, and then the screed is made.

It is possible to lay a tile on a cement-adhesive mixture without screed only when using coating materials based on acrylic or cement.

Waterproofing pasting

Waterproofing in the bathroom by gluing will cost more than using only bitumen mastic. And to make it with your own hands will be more difficult. However, this method has many admirers among builders.

Rolled waterproofing materials can be divided into two types:

• Surfaced. For their installation, a gas burner is required, the use of which in the apartment is undesirable.
• Self adhesive. It’s quite easy to fit, but you need to do everything carefully, it will no longer be possible to re-stick in case of incorrect location.

Tip: Before laying rolled waterproofing for the bathroom, it is recommended to glue all joints with waterproof tape or coat with mastic. For additional reliability, you can apply a thin layer of mastic on the entire surface of the floor with the approach to the walls.

Progress:

• Laying material is overlapped. Each subsequent sheet should overlap the previous one fifth of the width. In this case, it is necessary to make an inlet on the walls by approximately 15–20 cm. After cutting the sheet of the required size, a protective film is removed from it. The material is laid on the floor and rolled with a heavy roller. The procedure is repeated for each subsequent sheet.

• Surfaced roll materials are preheated with a burner, rolling out gradually.
• When laying rolled waterproofing, the greatest difficulty is caused by places where you have to bypass pipes and various communications. The holes for them should be made slightly smaller than the required size to get peculiar sides. Special rubber seals are also used. All places of such joints are additionally coated with mastic and reinforced with waterproof tape.

After laying, you can immediately start pouring the final screed under the tile.

Tip: after laying the tiles, all joints before grouting can be treated with sealant for additional protection - this will allow you to create a multi-layer waterproofing for the floor in the bathroom with your own hands.

Where else is waterproofing needed in the bathroom?

For high-quality waterproofing of the bathroom, you need to pay attention to the walls, which also often get water. Gradually, moisture will begin to penetrate the walls, leading to undesirable consequences. The most problematic places that need quality protection are:

• the space around the sink;
• walls adjacent to the bath or shower;
• plot near the toilet in the combined bathroom.

The application of waterproofing materials is carried out similarly to the processing of the floor in the bathroom. It is not recommended to use bitumen-based materials for walls. It is fluid and plastic, so it is not suitable for vertical surfaces and is not able to provide high-quality adhesion of the tile to the wall. It is better to use cement-polymer mixes.

Tip: in order to better adhere to the ceramic tile on the wall, it is possible to partially recess a reinforcing mesh in the layer of waterproofing material, which will help ensure good adhesion.

The waterproofing of the bathroom can be done by hand with high quality. It does not require special skills and special tools, but it will help protect structures from the damaging effects of moisture and will avoid serious financial costs in the future.