Hi there,
Welcome to Episode 13 of ‘Waterproofing Wisdom’.
In this episode, which is the first of a multi-part series, I explain the value of Specialist Waterproofing Contractors and demonstrate exactly why they should be part of every project with waterproofing needs.
I think this content will be especially relevant to Structural Engineers, Waterproofing Specialists, Project Managers and Architects.
You can watch the short 7 min video here, by clicking on the button below, or read on for the highlights.
Introduction
I start by discussing one of our recent projects that involved a comprehensive waterproofing design, the importance of using a Specialist Waterproofing Contractor, and why this suggestion was dismissed by the Main Contractor.
This is followed by a short video which shows a family trying to make a sandwich using a set of ‘clear’ written instructions – with disastrous results(!).
Waterproofing Wisdom
No amount of precise explanation can ever substitute for the competence, knowledge and understanding that Waterproofing Specialists bring to a project. They have been through years of training, and gained the valuable experience required to ensure that waterproofing installations are carried out to the correct standard. If you don’t have a Waterproofing Specialist working on your project, then you run a big risk of damage and further expense later down the line.
Closing Comments
Don’t rely on other professionals to fulfil your waterproofing needs, there is no substitute for a Waterproofing Specialist.
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or comments regarding this episode. Here at CLW we love to chat waterproofing!
Many Thanks,
Ben Hickman
Technical Director
02074584073
Welcome, and welcome to another episode of Waterproofing Wisdom. This is the start of a multi-part series, so you might have to wait a few months to get the other parts, or I might release them early – who knows?!
But, I wanted to share some stuff about Specialist Structural Waterproofing Contractors, and part one is; Why does it need to be a Specialist Structural Waterproofing Contractor?
This is coming of the back of a project where we have done a really comprehensive waterproofing design – we’ve been involved from RIBA Stage 2 to 4b and we’re now involved at RIBA Stage 5 on their compliance monitoring team. It’s a project that has been procured as a design and build project and our waterproofing design reports and all of that content very clearly stipulates that you must use a Specialist Structural Waterproofing Contractor to install the waterproofing, and this should be under a ‘with design’ contract. However, the Main Contractor said ‘No, no, we don’t want to do that’, and they’ve had a supplier provide a design that explicitly states that it is not a design, and the Main Contractor has also proclaimed that they are the Structural Waterproofing Specialist Contractor because they have had some toolbox talks. It made me think of this video and I wanted to share it with you. So let me show you this video.
I’ll stop there. I so relate to these kids trying to tell their Dad how to make this peanut butter and jelly sandwich! My experience is that there is no amount of precise explanation of how to do waterproofing that’s going to do enough if the person doing the waterproofing isn’t a competent person. And a toolbox talk, an hour’s toolbox talk for operatives on site, does not make a Waterproofing Specialist. A Waterproofing Specialist Contractor is a whole company, it’s whole set up, it’s got a design team, it’s got operatives, the operatives have been through NVQs, and apprenticeships and all the rest of it, and their management team have been through training and they’ve seen it going wrong, and they want to get it right, and they’ve learnt from their lessons.
You know, clearly this parent could actually make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich if they actually wanted to (!), but its demonstrating that no amount of very clear, moment by moment, blow-by-blow methodical explanation on how to do waterproofing is enough. What is enough is; use a Specialist Waterproofing Contractor – because other people can’t get it right.
Here’s some quick pictures. This is a site that is enormous, a huge, huge double storey basement. The waterproofing design was this type A membrane, Sika A08 as in the picture, nothing wrong with Sika, and it was very well installed by a Main Contractor, actually sorry, it was a Groundwork Contractor, and most of the waterproofing install was great. But, as you can see in this picture, there were various areas where they had taped things – presumably they thought that was good enough. And I came along and I just looked at a little bit and I lifted it slightly, and you can see the scale of the hole that water could pass through there is enormous. And a Specialist Contracting Company wouldn’t do that. They would be able to see what was wrong, and it goes for the QA as well. You can write into your QA ‘Has every LAT been checked?’, but unless a competent person is looking, you just don’t see. Similarly, on the floor slab, there were joins and junctions like this.
Anyway, there’s my rant about why you need to use a Specialist Contractor, and I guess I’d summarize by saying that ultimately, no amount of good design from a practice like ours – a clear explanation of; This is what the waterproofing should be like – no amount of that makes up for a lack of people on site who know what they are doing. And you don’t get people on site who know what they are doing just from a toolbox talk. That is a career, it’s years and years of training, from other people who’ve had years and years of training. It’s management systems, however implicit, it’s coming from Directors who see the risk, who don’t want to get it wrong. Been there, done that, got it wrong in the past, want to get it right now. That’s a Waterproofing Specialist. So please use one of them, instead of a Groundwork Contractor or a Main Contractor.
In my next, I think, two or three parts of this I’m going to talk about what makes a Specialist Contractor a Specialist Contractor, and then I’m going to try and do some stuff around building safety acts of competence, which includes knowledge, skills, experience, behaviours. I want to talk about well, that sort of thing. So thank you!