Waterproofing the foundation with your own hands

A foundation is the foundation of a building that is in direct contact with the ground, with most of it having direct contact with the soil layers. Groundwater and atmospheric precipitation affect the foundation, with its erosion and destruction. Especially dangerous is the impact on the wet foundation of minus temperatures: freezing in the pores and microcracks, the water expands, cracks are formed, sharply reducing the resistance of the foundation to loads. The solution to this problem is the waterproofing of the basement, in a private house it is quite possible to do it yourself.

Types of waterproofing and their features

In modern construction, various methods of waterproofing the foundation are used:

• coating - treatment of the foundation with compounds having high resistance to moisture, for example bitumen or polymeric mastics;
• impregnating - treatment with compounds having a high penetrating power. They fill the capillaries of the material and form a non-hygroscopic layer up to several tens of centimeters thick;
• oklechnaya - pasting the foundation with roll materials treated with adhesive compounds. They are fusible, requiring heating, or self-adhesive.
• mounted - waterproofing with studded geomembranes made of polymer cloth, assembled in a single waterproof surface.

Waterproofing with mastic

Mastics for waterproofing the foundation with their own hands are made on the basis of bitumen or rubber with the addition of various additives, increasing the strength and elasticity: reinforcing fibers, plasticizers, tinting. Kohler is added to various layers of applied mastic so that the coverage of each layer is more visible. Mastics produce one-component - ready-to-use, or two-component - requiring mixing before application.

Application technology:

1. The surface must be cleaned from strong contaminants and old rolled waterproofing materials. Removing traces of rust, paint, lining is optional. There are mastics that can be applied to a non-dried surface - this is convenient for performing work in wet weather.
2. All sharp edges, edges must be removed - they can damage the layer of waterproofing at the mechanical pressure of the ground. Shells and seams need to be wiped with sand-cement mortar - this will eliminate the formation of bubbles and improve the adhesion of the mastic.
3. Places of joints of vertical and horizontal surfaces are prepared as follows: from the outer corners a facet is removed, providing a radius of fillet rounding of at least 3 cm, internal corners are equipped with a fillet and reinforced with fiberglass.
4. The surface is primed with a special compound suitable for the type of mastic used, after which it is dried. Prepare the mastic for application: mastics for hot use are heated, bicomponent - mixed. Apply mastic brush or roller, the direction of strokes - vertical. Oble waterproofing is applied in several layers, and before the application of each subsequent layer it is necessary to dry out the previous one.
5. Backfill is produced with soft soil, optimally - with construction sand: due to the property it is good to let the moisture in, sandy filling will prevent the stagnation of groundwater near the basement.

A kind of impregnating waterproofing is an impregnation. Its difference is that the compositions for performing impregnated waterproofing have the ability to penetrate deep into the pores of materials, thereby creating an insulating layer that does not allow moisture to pass through.

Oily waterproofing is used to protect against capillary moisture. It has low mechanical strength, and is not suitable for protection from pressurized groundwater and erosion. In this case, multi-layered waterproofing of the foundation by the hands.

Oak waterproofing foundation

Oak waterproofing made of roll materials with waterproofing impregnation, such as ruberoid, or from polymer films. Modern roll materials for pasting waterproofing have reinforcement, which increases their tensile strength.

Coating technology:

1. Prepare the foundation for waterproofing: cleaned of dust and debris, dried and treated with a primer suitable for bitumen waterproofing. Dry it.
2. For laying the roll waterproofing the foundation is covered with one layer of bitumen mastic, on which the roll material is glued. The strips of the material are glued overlapping, additionally smearing them with bituminous mastic. The number of layers depends on the design hydrostatic head.
3. For gluing fusible roll materials with a polyethylene melting layer, a gas burner is required. A roll of waterproofing is slightly rolled out, heated and pressed against the base. Continuing to heat the roll, it is gradually rolled over the entire surface of the basement. The strips are overlapped, and when laying the next layer, the seams of the previous layer are completely overlapped.
4. Rolled waterproofing materials with a self-adhesive layer are glued to a pre-treated surface that does not have sharp edges, protrusions, shells. Joints are additionally smeared with polymer mastic.

Basement waterproofing

Modern materials for waterproofing are thermoplastic membrane coatings with a studded outer layer providing additional strength. The membrane inner layer allows the removal of moisture in the external direction and good protection against penetration of groundwater. The moisture condenses on the spiked layer and drains into the drainage system. Membrane waterproofing has good tensile strength and a high coefficient of elongation.

Fastening technology:

1. Prepare the foundation surface, clean and align.
2. It is necessary to exclude contact of membrane polymer waterproofing with bituminous materials, fats and solvents, as well as with foams, polystyrene, mounting foam. To exclude contact, you can isolate the foundation surface with geotextile.
3. In the places of vertical and horizontal matings arrange fillet or reinforcement from an additional layer of reinforcement from the compensating tape.
4. Lay the mounted waterproofing with overlapping strips, gluing the layers with hot air welding.
5. Arrange drainage system and perform backfilling with soil.

The choice of type of waterproofing depends on several factors: the depth of occurrence of the upper water table, the amount of precipitation, the relief of the site. In some cases, the erection of drainage is a prerequisite.

To protect against moisture condensation and ensure the life of the foundation, it is also recommended that the basement be insulated.