Starting the construction of their own garage or acquiring a ready-made one, many think about its additional protection against high humidity. How to waterproof the garage floor before screed? About the features of processing walls and roofs of a building, as well as the choice of materials, information is presented in the article.
The nuances of waterproofing
Moisture protection is necessary in the first place so that the car that is located there is not subject to corrosion. When building a garage without a viewing hole or basement, the waterproofing layer should be located at a height of about 25 cm above the ground. This is necessary in order not to let moisture in the room.
In the case when the construction of the garage is carried out independently, it is important to pre-prepare the soil. To do this, it is compacted and covered with a layer of sand. It is necessary to lay a layer of a waterproofing membrane on it. The next layer of moisture protection is laid immediately before the concrete floor screed.
Varieties of materials
There are several varieties of waterproofing that are widely used today:
- Roll materials. They are either floating or adhesive. The first include roofing material from TechnoNIKOL and other manufacturers.
For independent use, materials on an adhesive basis are considered the most convenient, since they are convenient to lay. To increase their service life, as well as insulating characteristics, it is recommended to glue joints between strips of material.
- Painting waterproofing. These are called mastics, the application of which is carried out by staining. They can be polyurethane, bitumen, rubber or polymer-cement. The coating is in the form of a thin film, which is spread over the entire area of the floor or walls. The liquid texture allows you to handle even the most inaccessible places, and the use of a primer increases adhesion.
- Penetrating waterproofing. There are several varieties of it - concreting, polymer-cement, inorganic cement. These varieties of waterproofing are available in powder form for self-dilution, liquid or paste. Its principle of action is penetration into concrete, due to which there is an interaction of lime and chemicals.
- Backfill insulation. It is ideal for a garage whose floor will be subject to strong mechanical stress. Often used materials such as sand, concrete or ash. They are poured into a pre-constructed formwork. It is the most durable, but its independent installation is difficult, as it requires certain skills.
Often, materials for waterproofing a garage are selected based on their own preferences, complexity of work, and cost.
Surface preparation
Experienced experts recommend thorough surface preparation before installing waterproofing. This is necessary to ensure good adhesion of materials to each other. The preparatory phase consists of the following actions:
- Cleaning the room from furniture.
- Alignment of walls and floor.
- Application of a primer layer on the surface to be waterproofed.
- All visible seams and cracks must be repaired.
In places of large cracks or chips, it is recommended to use a reinforcing mesh.
In addition, it is important to prepare all the materials that may be needed to perform the waterproofing of the garage. Depending on the choice of material, it can be various rollers, brushes, a construction knife, a gas burner, a construction level.
Application of waterproofing paint
To isolate the garage floor from high humidity, paint waterproofing is most often chosen. This is due to the simplicity of its application and the lack of specific skills. After the floor is carefully swept away from the garbage, you must perform the following actions:
- It is recommended to apply 2-3 coats of primer and wait until they are completely absorbed into the concrete.
- Next, you need to dilute the mastic to the required consistency according to the instructions.
- It is necessary to apply the material with a roller, replacing it with a brush for processing corners.
Apply material for waterproofing the garage with an overlap. At the same time, the walls should be processed to a height of about 2 cm. After the work is completed, it is important to wait until complete drying, which will come after 2-3 days.
Causes of dampness
Own garage in the process of construction is often supplemented with a basement for storage of various household items and conservation. Since it is below ground level, it is much more prone to damp than the garage itself. Excess moisture can appear for a number of the following reasons:
- The lack of waterproofing or its installation does not comply with the standards.
- No sealing of joints between bricks or cinder block.
- The occurrence of cracks and voids.
In all these cases, the basement requires repair and thorough waterproofing.
Basement waterproofing
To ensure dryness in the basement, adhesive-based roll materials are often used. They are also popular for processing garage walls. To perform waterproofing of the inspection pit or basement, you must follow this algorithm:
- On the entire surface of the walls you need to apply 2 layers of primer and wait until completely absorbed.
- Stick the rolls from top to bottom. The optimal width of the material is considered to be 150-200 cm. It is important to overlap about 10 cm.
With a deep occurrence of groundwater, the waterproofing of the basement of the garage is carried out with a material that has a thickness of about 2 mm. When water is near, the recommended thickness of the roll insulation is 4-8 mm. Waterproofing the basement of a garage with adhesive-based rolls is pretty straightforward. This type of work is within the power of even beginners in this business. This is also used for inspection pits.
Roof waterproofing
Garages often have a concrete roof. As a hydrobarrier, any materials can be used except for the bulk ones, however, ruberoid from TechnoNIKOL or other manufacturers is most in demand. The algorithm for laying the insulating layer is as follows:
- The concrete roof must be covered with 2-3 layers of primer or 1 layer of bitumen mastic.
- The coating should be completely absorbed into the surface and dry.
- Then, using a gas burner, it is necessary to heat the surface of the material until the indicators that are on one side of the roofing material disappear completely. This is indicated on the packaging of the material.
- It is important not to overheat the roofing material, otherwise its waterproofing properties will noticeably worsen.
- During warming up, the roll must be gradually rolled out at the installation site.
- Stripes are overlapped by 10 cm.
When laying roofing material it is recommended to pay special attention to the ledges on the roof, ventilation and heating pipes. All joints of the hydrobarrier joints for the roof should be coated with bitumen mastic or waterproofing tape should be used.
Some garages may be made of metal. Such structures, in addition to roofing material, can be covered with a layer of mastic on a bitumen-polymer basis. The coating should be applied to the cleaned surface of the roof in the warm season with several layers. To create additional strength, it is recommended to use reinforced fabric as a lining. Drying of one layer is about 2 days, after which the roof is ready for subsequent application.
Waterproofing walls
The hydrobarrier is recommended for all structural elements. The waterproofing of the walls of the garage is often done by plastering, as it is the fastest and most convenient. The composition of such a material may include polymers, water glass, and other additives acting as a water-repellent barrier. The garage is waterproofed as follows:
- It is necessary to apply 2-3 coats of primer. Give each of them about 2 days for complete drying, only after that apply the next.
- Using an ordinary plaster spatula, it is necessary to evenly distribute the composition on the walls. At the joints, it is recommended to use a small reinforcing mesh.
- After the material has completely dried, it is recommended to apply another layer.
Experienced builders say that in this way it will be possible to create not only a good hydraulic barrier, but also align the walls. For this, it is recommended to use the building level.
Foundation waterproofing
At the construction stage, you can take care of the waterproofing of the garage from groundwater, if they lie close enough to the ground surface. For this, it is necessary to place a hydro-barrier on the foundation of the building. This is done in the following way:
- It is necessary to fully wait for the concrete to dry from which the foundation was erected.
- After this, you need to remove the wooden formwork and coat the foundation with two layers of bitumen mastic. The first layer should dry well for two days before applying the second.
- For waterproofing, roofing material is most often used. It must be fixed with an overlap of 10 cm.
- To fix the roofing material, it is important to melt the bitumen, which is part of it, using a gas burner.
A more expensive, but long-lasting waterproofing method is liquid rubber coating. It is produced using a spray gun and requires some skills to make the layer as uniform as possible.
Also, this method requires the additional use of reinforcing fabric or fine mesh.
When buying a finished garage and the impossibility of waterproofing the foundation, sufficient attention should be paid to the hydrobarrier for the floor.
Conclusion
High-quality and durable water-repellent coating is the key to dryness inside the garage. This means that the car inside will not be susceptible to corrosion from high humidity, which is inevitable in the absence of a waterproofing layer.