It wasn't raining, this was trapped in the deck.Times are tough, I understand being thrifty and looking for the best deals out there. When it comes to waterproofing your decks and patio's or any horizontal surface my thought is be cost effective and thrifty. Here are some examples from Park City, an area that is suffereing serious water related issues from a combination of product choice and poor installation.
Solid surface decking is a great choice, why not make the most of the space you have outside. It can be an outstanding place to entertain your friends and family. I think in many cases the home owner's decison on products has been based on the finished look as much as cost.
This deck was over a garage and there are at least three different products that we found. so many in fact that we were conserned about the weight. It appears that the original attempt was to have an exposed aggrigate or "pebble" style finish on the deck. It failed and it was no wonder, where was the waterproofing? The second attempt was another dose of the same type design. Can you believe it failed too! The reason why? No waterproofing. As the old layers were being torn away I noticed water leaking out the garage below and running down the driveway. The home owner originally called because there was water leaking into the garage so it made sence.
The visible water leaking into the garage is what raised a flag. In truth this had been going on a very long time. The multiple layers had not stopped the water from leaking through, it was trapping it below and that was rotting the substrate. Here you can see how wet the wood was, it was actually puddling during the tearoff. The water was leaking out the door below and onto the deck becasue there was nothing to hold it any longer.
This deck was over a garage and there are at least three different products that we found. so many in fact that we were conserned about the weight. It appears that the original attempt was to have an exposed aggrigate or "pebble" style finish on the deck. It failed and it was no wonder, where was the waterproofing? The second attempt was another dose of the same type design. Can you believe it failed too! The reason why? No waterproofing. As the old layers were being torn away I noticed water leaking out the garage below and running down the driveway. The home owner originally called because there was water leaking into the garage so it made sence.
The visible water leaking into the garage is what raised a flag. In truth this had been going on a very long time. The multiple layers had not stopped the water from leaking through, it was trapping it below and that was rotting the substrate. Here you can see how wet the wood was, it was actually puddling during the tearoff. The water was leaking out the door below and onto the deck becasue there was nothing to hold it any longer.
The failed product was coming up in large chuncks and this is what was below. This was directly above the water leaking out the garage to the diveway. As they tore off the old it was allowing more water to flow through the holes.
It was fortunate for the home owner that they had so many layers on the deck, somebody could have been seriously hurt falling throught here.
In our experience the details is where waterproofing gets difficult. Here there simply is no excuse for what was done. In each application of product all they did was go up to the edge of the wooden post and stop. Anyone can see that water will get into the shrinkage cracks, this will leak below and casue the wood to expand as well.
One of the layers was a liquid applied membrane. Not sure how you can get a liquid to go up a column and stay but only butting it up to it obviously doesn't work either.
Finally to the bottom layer. Although the wood had not rotted yet you can see the rust from a layer of metal that was used, probably to help reduce movement. All it did was rust from the amount of moisture seeping in.
Finally to the bottom layer. Although the wood had not rotted yet you can see the rust from a layer of metal that was used, probably to help reduce movement. All it did was rust from the amount of moisture seeping in.
