Afternoon Waterproofing Whiz's,

 

(Summary - Brand new tile balcony needs to eventually be ripped out and redone due to no waterproofing under the installation.  Considering options to apply waterproofing material over part or all of the balcony in the interim.  It is not a high foot traffic area.).

 

I have a substantial amount of 2nd story balcony over 1st floor living space that was re-tiled last year without installing a waterproofing membrane underneath the new tile.  Per the standard here, the new tile was applied over the old tile.

 

Stupid me, I did not stop everything in it's tracks and demand that a waterproofing membrane be applied, and at minimum I have water vapor intrusion into one bedroom wall below the balcony.  The slope was also improperly done, and there are areas of standing water on the balcony.

 

At the edge where the tile field meets the balcony parapet, it used to have a polyurethane expansion joint.  That was stripped out, and replaced with grout (which I told my "construction supervisor" was a red flag concern (probable grout cracking, grout absorbs water, needs to breathe, etc.).  Stupid me, I accepted that "This is how its done in Thailand", and hoped that the original waterproofing membrane would hold, and summarily paid the contractor as I had to leave the country for several months.

 

I'm assuming the contractor will not replace this at his cost, so I need to do what I can to protect my living spaces from water intrusion until I can drum up the $$$$ to redo the job properly.

 

My initial most minimalist thought is to apply TOA 201 or Lanko 451 to the joint between the tile field and the parapet (the leak in the bedroom wall below lines up with this area).  That said, if there is water penetration in one spot, and there are standing water issues, the whole bloody thing may be a water vapor sponge that can penetrate the living area below, and I'm thinking I may have to treat the entire area like a roof and apply waterproofing over the entire tile field and run it up the parapet walls a few inches until I can have the job redone.

 

Open to suggestions on solutions and materials to use, many thanks all!

 

Edited July 2, 20179 yr by juanzo

We have had good results using TOA 201 to seal a water leak between the cappings and the roof tiles where our kitchen extension butts up to the wall. The gray sealant was then painted over to match the roof tile colour. .

That's basically what I ended up doing at the joint of the tile field to parapet.  Bought some pigments and added it to white Toa 201 and it pretty well matches the grout color.  I'll probably continue around the entire perimeter of the parapet, and in the areas of standing water, mask off the tiles and apply over grout.  I don't think water will penetrate the tiles much.