Do it right the first time!

Although it is beautiful now, this awesome outdoor area had some serious issues. Unfortunatly these costly repairs would have been avoided with the proper system and professional installation. Originally done with tile a water leak into the living space below was the cause for repair. What was found is all too common and can be avioded.

The process that was used involved several different products and some did not follow the manufacturer's recomendations. The subfloor was OSB, ice & water shield, 1/4 inch fiberboard, thinset, then tile.







The picture to the right is a tile from the outer edge of the deck. You can see the tile and about 1/4 inch of thinset was used here.









In this picture you see another tile this one comes aproximatly ten feet from the above picture. What you see here is the dramtic change in thickness of the thinset and an additional inknown product. This was done in an effort to create the nessesary slope to drain the water from the deck surface. This is one of the errors in the installation process.




Tile, thinset and grout are not waterproof. Adding thicker layers does provide slope as you see it and with a level, but water is being absorbed into these materials and looking for an escape. This is a very common problem and can be very costly when failure occurs. When your project calls for tile / stone on an outdoor surface we recommend that you use only products that are fully warranteed over living space and comes with a roofing approval.


Here we have some pieces of the 1/4 inch fiber board that were used over the ice & water shield. When installing tile again we recommend using 1/2 inch cement board per the tile industry standards.

Here you can see the long, darker color piece on top of the larger one. The color difference is the amount of moisture in the longer piece. According to the label this product is moisture and mold resistant. Again the manufacture does not approve of this product being used in an outdoor application.





This is what was to be the waterproof material for this project. Once again it is not for use in a walkeable roof application. It is a deck we are talking about but, since it is over living space this is also a roof. As such a roofing product was needed to avoid these costly errors.

Look closely and you can see the roofing nails that were used to attach the sheets. Never a good idea to put holes into what you are trying to waterproof.

On the right there are visible signs of the water damage and what looks like an area where mold has begun to form. This home owner is fortunate that they are doing the repair now rather then later, this could have been much much worse.

All of this can be avoided by using some simple common sense. Be sure you are using products that are within the manufacturer's recommendations and only a professional who has been properly trained on the products used.