Hello everyone.
In the picture, you can see the roof of a garage.
Under the deck is a concrete slab, and behind the red-marked area is a wall down, with a corresponding staircase.
The wall behind is soaking wet, and the brick joints have come loose roughly in line with the roof.
Everything indicates that the drainage on the concrete slab is terrible, and the water seeps through to the wall behind, making it wet and causing the joints to come loose. Does this sound plausible?
How can this best be fixed now?... chisel down drainage grooves?... a number of holes through the wall to lead the water away?... other methods?
Regards
Andreas
In the picture, you can see the roof of a garage.
Under the deck is a concrete slab, and behind the red-marked area is a wall down, with a corresponding staircase.
The wall behind is soaking wet, and the brick joints have come loose roughly in line with the roof.
Everything indicates that the drainage on the concrete slab is terrible, and the water seeps through to the wall behind, making it wet and causing the joints to come loose. Does this sound plausible?
How can this best be fixed now?... chisel down drainage grooves?... a number of holes through the wall to lead the water away?... other methods?
Regards
Andreas
It's a beautiful 1950s building (I guess because of the great attention to detail) so it's a shame to let it deteriorate. The waterproofing under the decking is ready for replacement, that's for sure. Two aspects that don't appear in your picture are 1) The slope of the concrete roof and 2) How the water drainage was originally designed. Internal floor drain or similar arrangement. Start by removing the decking.
Hello.
There are 2 floor drains, but I think the slope is far too poor towards them. I removed a few planks, and it's definitely wet (Plus damp leaves and other things that have found their way down).
There is no waterproofing layer?!... It is bare concrete underneath. The decking itself was laid just before we bought the place, and is quite new. Maybe it worked with bare concrete before when there wasn't a deck holding all the moisture?
Is it just a matter of tearing up the decking and applying a waterproofing layer then?... are there any other simpler ways to keep it dry underneath?... What isn't visible in the picture is that there is a total of over 100 sqm of decking...
There are 2 floor drains, but I think the slope is far too poor towards them. I removed a few planks, and it's definitely wet (Plus damp leaves and other things that have found their way down).
There is no waterproofing layer?!... It is bare concrete underneath. The decking itself was laid just before we bought the place, and is quite new. Maybe it worked with bare concrete before when there wasn't a deck holding all the moisture?
Is it just a matter of tearing up the decking and applying a waterproofing layer then?... are there any other simpler ways to keep it dry underneath?... What isn't visible in the picture is that there is a total of over 100 sqm of decking...
What does the underside of the roof look like? It was quite common for the waterproofing layer (often in the form of poured asphalt) to be underneath an upper layer of wear concrete. I don't believe the terrace would be completely without waterproofing. The slope is usually between 1-5%. The presence of the decking probably hasn't had any significant impact. If it's relatively new, you might be able to remove it gently. It should be possible to lay a new waterproofing layer on top of the wear concrete, but the detailing is important, especially the connection to the walls. It might be necessary to chip away the wear concrete for a good result, but it's difficult to say for sure from a distance. For the work on a new waterproofing layer, you should hire someone with proven competence in the field.