A heritage masonry building with water coming through the foundation wall into the space below. Excavation had to happen without undermining a structure that had been standing for decades.
At a glance
- Client
- Institutional / place of worship
- Location
- [community to confirm]
- Structure
- Foundation wall, heritage masonry building
- Scope
- Excavation, exterior tanking membrane, drainage and backfill
- Area
- [linear feet of wall]
- System
- Exterior tanking membrane with drainage board and new perimeter drain
- Completed
- 2021
The problem
Water was entering through the foundation wall below grade. On a building of this age the original foundation was never waterproofed to any modern standard — at best it had a coat of damp-proofing that had long since broken down.
Interior sealing would not solve it. Coating the inside face of a wall that has water pushing against the outside face just moves the problem; the water is still in the wall, and hydrostatic pressure eventually wins. The only durable fix is to stop it on the outside.
What we did
- Excavated to the footing in controlled sections so the wall was never unsupported along its full length at once.
- Cleaned the wall back to sound substrate and parged the surface flat so the membrane had something continuous to bond to.
- Applied a fully bonded exterior tanking membrane from the footing up to grade.
- Installed drainage board over the membrane to break hydrostatic pressure and protect the membrane during backfill.
- Laid a new perimeter drain to take the water away from the building, then backfilled and reinstated the grade so it falls away from the wall.
The result
The below-grade space is dry. Just as importantly, the water is now managed rather than merely blocked — the membrane keeps it out of the wall and the drainage takes it away, so the system is not relying on the membrane alone to hold back standing water.
[A "before" photograph would make this page significantly stronger — Phil, do you have one from this job?]
[Testimonial to come — Phil to obtain written permission from the property owner before this is published.]
Water coming through a foundation wall? We will look at it and tell you honestly whether it needs exterior work or whether there is a less invasive option.