WATERPROOFING YOUR BATHROOM

Waterproofing is one of the most important jobs that need to be carried out. Assess your patience and painting skills prior to tackling this task. You will find that waterproofing is not as easy as it looks and will create quite a mess in your bathroom and on you if your not careful.

Firstly you will need to measure the area that needs waterproofing and round it up to the next square meter to make sure you have an adequate amount. It’s no good buying a 4 litre and two 1 litre tubs to cover exactly 6 meters. You’ll find out the hard way that you’ll have to buy another litre just to finish. It may be wiser to buy a 10 litre and have some spare just in case. Speak to the retailer about your needs. You may find out that a 10 litre is cheaper than a 4 litre and two 1 litre tubs. You will also need to buy bandage strips about 200 mm wide to cover all joins where the floor and walls meet. Spaghetti or flexible foam tubing for corner movement.

The first step is to apply the primer. Use a primer that is recommended by the manufacturer of the waterproofing so you don’t void your warranty. Start with the walls making sure you apply it to the shower recess to at least the height of the shower rose. Next paint the primer around the perimeter of the room and around the bathtub. (Make sure you do not get primer on the bath or any surface that needs to be clean. primer will not come off easily). Once you have finished the walls and perimeter, move onto the floor, working your way to the door. Try to work over the whole width of the room so you don’t miss any spots.

Now it is time to apply the waterproofing and bandage. Again, paint the walls first. Use a bandage over any joins in the villaboard or gyprock to make sure that any movement is allowed for. All vertical corners need to have the bandage installed to allow for movement also. Next step is the perimeter. Start in the shower recess and use foam tubing to allow for movement in the corners. Then the bandage to cover the wall/floor joint. The bandage needs to go up the wall 100 mm and across the floor 100 mm (4 inches)

Once all the hard work is done, all your left with is the floor. This is the easiest part of waterproofing. Remember that any area that will have direct water contact, needs to be fully covered. For instance, the shower floor must be fully covered. All timber floors need to be fully covered as well. Concrete and compressed fibro only need the shower floor and the joints and perimeter covered. Making sure any protrusions or holes in the floor are fully waterproofed as well, no matter what the floor is made of. These include around vanity pipes and drains.

Waterproofing horror story. !

Waterproof the easy way

And YES, this is by a local ’Bathroom Renovator’ on the central coast of NSW.
I was asked to tile this bathroom. As if this could work! And the Owner was none the wiser of how waterproofing should be done