Articles
Waterproof Membranes
Nowadays the range of the waterproof membranes consists of not just liquid products, but a range of sheet membranes, drainage boards and sodium bentonite based products. All these waterproof membranes share the same function that is proving specifiers, users and clients with safe effective basement tanking. The waterproof membranes are frequently made from plasticised PVC mostly because this material has an excellent resistance to weathering in outdoor conditions. The PVC membranes used on flat roofs can also eliminate the condensation that would otherwise collect underneath.
A useful starting point when designing a structure that requires waterproof membranes is BS8102. This official document describes the various steps that need to be followed to make sure that the waterproof membranes provide effective basement tanking. The first step would be to determine to what use the basement would be put, because the BS8102 document describes four standards of basement tanking, ranging from the lowest, which allows some water ingress to a totally dry environment.
Once you settled this aspect, next you will have to determine the soil conditions so an assessment can be made regarding the levels and degrees of water pressure the membranes will be subjected to. After these aspects have been considered you can then decide on the design you want on the basement tanking and also on the type of materials selected as membranes. Although it may seem like a simply task, in reality there are a lot of decisions that you will need to make in this process.