Water Seepage

[wuga98 0]

I am looking for specialist that can help me fixed some water seepage. Any recommendation?

[leechaorui 2]

I am looking for specialist that can help me fixed some water seepage. Any recommendation?

Hi Joshua,

What is the issue with water seepage? Is it air-con pipe leaking, roof leaking or ...?

[wuga98 0]

I have water stains due to seepage (poor water proofing) on my false ceiling. My balcony is open and the rain for the last few mths have been hard and i would like to get the fixes done. Quality is more important to me than cost.

Hi Joshua,

What is the issue with water seepage? Is it air-con pipe leaking, roof leaking or ...?

[leechaorui 2]

I have water stains due to seepage (poor water proofing) on my false ceiling. My balcony is open and the rain for the last few mths have been hard and i would like to get the fixes done. Quality is more important to me than cost.

Hi Joshua,

The stains on the false ceiling could be caused by various factors or a combination of factors such as leaking air-con pipe, water pipe, water tank, roof, toilet/ balcony, etc... which are more common to the less common ones such as water seepage through walls from neigbour's house or your own wall.

As your building contractor will be most familiar with your house, I think it is best that you get him to troubleshoot the leakage and get to the root cause. If you wish to get my current building contractor to review your place, drop me a pm and I can help do the connection for you.

[Aiky 0]

Yes, best is to get your builder.

If not convenient (as in my case), I would recommend to get at least 3-4 specialist/contractors to take a look. First, if the problem is hard to diagnose, they may have different opinion on the source and proposed treatment, which will hopefully give you some idea (and consensus) where to start.

Second, the quotes can vary a lot. My personal experience is that cost does not necessarily correlate with quality. More important to talk through the issue with the contractors and find someone you are comfy working with.

[wuga98 0]

lee, thanks for the reply. I can see the stalactite formation when i opened up my false ceiling. My 3rd floor balcony form part my master bedroom. Water proofing if not done sufficiently will have this issue in the long run, the other thing i found out is the gradient and also the location of my sewage hole on the balcony. It was designed with a gradient that will sweep all the water that falled onto the balcony to one path to the sewage hole thus making that area wetter than others.

I would like to deal with companies that has core biz in water proofing not general contractors that may not appreciate the concern here.

Hi Joshua,

The stains on the false ceiling could be caused by various factors or a combination of factors such as leaking air-con pipe, water pipe, water tank, roof, toilet/ balcony, etc... which are more common to the less common ones such as water seepage through walls from neigbour's house or your own wall.

As your building contractor will be most familiar with your house, I think it is best that you get him to troubleshoot the leakage and get to the root cause. If you wish to get my current building contractor to review your place, drop me a pm and I can help do the connection for you.

[wuga98 0]

Aiky: my builder(main con) is a general contractor and my reservation is that they will still need to bring in their half-pass 6 sub-con which i doubt will get you the result you want.

I will consider this as part of the main upkeep enpenses that i will need to fork out regularly other than repainting etc. If you have came across a company that can help me solve this headache for the next few yrs, let me know. Thanks.

Yes, best is to get your builder.

If not convenient (as in my case), I would recommend to get at least 3-4 specialist/contractors to take a look. First, if the problem is hard to diagnose, they may have different opinion on the source and proposed treatment, which will hopefully give you some idea (and consensus) where to start.

Second, the quotes can vary a lot. My personal experience is that cost does not necessarily correlate with quality. More important to talk through the issue with the contractors and find someone you are comfy working with.

[leechaorui 2]

lee, thanks for the reply. I can see the stalactite formation when i opened up my false ceiling. My 3rd floor balcony form part my master bedroom. Water proofing if not done sufficiently will have this issue in the long run, the other thing i found out is the gradient and also the location of my sewage hole on the balcony. It was designed with a gradient that will sweep all the water that falled onto the balcony to one path to the sewage hole thus making that area wetter than others.

I would like to deal with companies that has core biz in water proofing not general contractors that may not appreciate the concern here.

When you see stalactite formation, it means that the water leakage is already quite serious. I am using Quick Seal products for waterproofing my house. So far, I think this is one of the more premium products. The following is the website on quickseal in Singapore:

http://www.quicseal.com/www%20-%20proposal/pg%20hm.htm

After you have reviewed their products and expertise in this area and feel that they can meet your needs, you can contact the company to send a water proofing specialist to help you with the leakage problem.

Let me know if you need more help.

Cheers!

[Aiky 0]

Your case sounds like mine. My open rooftop terrace started leaking on the external wall (thankfully not into MBR below). I think its due to (1) only 1 drain-hole and gradient which doesn't drain fast enough from one section during downpours; (2) layer of anti-heat sponge under the floor which left gap for water accumulation; (3) waterproofing at a section of wall-floor joint not done properly.

Spoke to a few "premium" specialists at first. All gave different diagnosis and peddled their own product (naturally). Also tend to be quite exp due to "special technology". Some promise quick and easy solution, which was tempting. But I started to have doubts when the more specialist I spoke to, the more different answers I received.

In the end, for long term peace of mind, I decided to tear up the entire floor, remove the sponge, relay waterproofing, concrete and tiles. Also added a polycarb roof to deflect part of the rainwater away. Was a real mess and hassle for couple of weeks. This was done earlier this year so I dare not vouch for anything, besides I'm now overseas and my parents jaga the place.

Btw, I engaged a contractor who does mostly roofing and leaks (he's just the main boss, the bangla supervisor was the leak expert). Found him via classifieds. He's ok, workers gave me some frustrations. End of day, most of them have their peculiarities and patterns, just as us.

Hope you solve your problem swiftly. I procrastinated and it was more pain in the end.

[leechaorui 2]

Your case sounds like mine. My open rooftop terrace started leaking on the external wall (thankfully not into MBR below). I think its due to (1) only 1 drain-hole and gradient which doesn't drain fast enough from one section during downpours; (2) layer of anti-heat sponge under the floor which left gap for water accumulation; (3) waterproofing at a section of wall-floor joint not done properly.

Spoke to a few "premium" specialists at first. All gave different diagnosis and peddled their own product (naturally). Also tend to be quite exp due to "special technology". Some promise quick and easy solution, which was tempting. But I started to have doubts when the more specialist I spoke to, the more different answers I received.

In the end, for long term peace of mind, I decided to tear up the entire floor, remove the sponge, relay waterproofing, concrete and tiles. Also added a polycarb roof to deflect part of the rainwater away. Was a real mess and hassle for couple of weeks. This was done earlier this year so I dare not vouch for anything, besides I'm now overseas and my parents jaga the place.

Btw, I engaged a contractor who does mostly roofing and leaks (he's just the main boss, the bangla supervisor was the leak expert). Found him via classifieds. He's ok, workers gave me some frustrations. End of day, most of them have their peculiarities and patterns, just as us.

Hope you solve your problem swiftly. I procrastinated and it was more pain in the end.

Thanks for sharing and good to know that you have solved the water leakage problem. Yours seem to be a design cum workmanship problem where water could get into the sponge area, only one hole to drain water and water proofing at a wall joint not properly done. I find that when the contractor build exactly to the engineer's requirement on the joint area, there are subsequent problems of weight and size of fitting in the beams and pillars and also leakage issue. There is a lot of experience required by the contractor and on-the-ground practical adjustments needed.

This also happened to me but I managed to had a discussion with the foreman, engineer and contractor to make some ground adjustments during the construction phase of putting up the concrete ceiling with a 45 degree clay tile sloping roof. Keeping my fingers crossed, I think my place should not have issues with water leakage. In fact, I also insisted on doing 2 holes to drain the water at the open balcony area of my attic. During the recent bloat of rain, there were no leakage.

Cheers!

[wuga98 0]

thanks lee, will look thru the URL. Did you engage them separately or spec this into the main con contract?

When you see stalactite formation, it means that the water leakage is already quite serious. I am using Quick Seal products for waterproofing my house. So far, I think this is one of the more premium products. The following is the website on quickseal in Singapore:

http://www.quicseal.com/www%20-%20proposal/pg%20hm.htm

After you have reviewed their products and expertise in this area and feel that they can meet your needs, you can contact the company to send a water proofing specialist to help you with the leakage problem.

Let me know if you need more help.

Cheers!

[wuga98 0]

not sure where is this sponge and joint area as i am technical inclined in this area and it is hard to see as my view was blocked by a cassette AC. During the build, it never occurred to be about all these provisions. I am worry about water proofing but the rest of the stuff like inclination, drain-hole, extension of the roof...all these never cross my mind until i started staying at the house.

The composite roof is on my to-do list but it never took off as the ground time never did allow me to start this. Can you PM me the contractor that did your repairs?. Thanks.

Your case sounds like mine. My open rooftop terrace started leaking on the external wall (thankfully not into MBR below). I think its due to (1) only 1 drain-hole and gradient which doesn't drain fast enough from one section during downpours; (2) layer of anti-heat sponge under the floor which left gap for water accumulation; (3) waterproofing at a section of wall-floor joint not done properly.

Spoke to a few "premium" specialists at first. All gave different diagnosis and peddled their own product (naturally). Also tend to be quite exp due to "special technology". Some promise quick and easy solution, which was tempting. But I started to have doubts when the more specialist I spoke to, the more different answers I received.

In the end, for long term peace of mind, I decided to tear up the entire floor, remove the sponge, relay waterproofing, concrete and tiles. Also added a polycarb roof to deflect part of the rainwater away. Was a real mess and hassle for couple of weeks. This was done earlier this year so I dare not vouch for anything, besides I'm now overseas and my parents jaga the place.

Btw, I engaged a contractor who does mostly roofing and leaks (he's just the main boss, the bangla supervisor was the leak expert). Found him via classifieds. He's ok, workers gave me some frustrations. End of day, most of them have their peculiarities and patterns, just as us.

Hope you solve your problem swiftly. I procrastinated and it was more pain in the end.

[wuga98 0]

Lee, some of the things that you are sharing are to me fundamentals that contractors or architect do not discussed with you (maybe they do not know). It can only come from experience, if i boo boo here, next round pay attention here.

This balcony above a room thing, roof extension, sloping gradient, no of drain holes....all are critical factors. I guess having a forum like this will give others a perspective to what to look out for.

Thanks for sharing and good to know that you have solved the water leakage problem. Yours seem to be a design cum workmanship problem where water could get into the sponge area, only one hole to drain water and water proofing at a wall joint not properly done. I find that when the contractor build exactly to the engineer's requirement on the joint area, there are subsequent problems of weight and size of fitting in the beams and pillars and also leakage issue. There is a lot of experience required by the contractor and on-the-ground practical adjustments needed.

This also happened to me but I managed to had a discussion with the foreman, engineer and contractor to make some ground adjustments during the construction phase of putting up the concrete ceiling with a 45 degree clay tile sloping roof. Keeping my fingers crossed, I think my place should not have issues with water leakage. In fact, I also insisted on doing 2 holes to drain the water at the open balcony area of my attic. During the recent bloat of rain, there were no leakage.

Cheers!

[leechaorui 2]

Lee, some of the things that you are sharing are to me fundamentals that contractors or architect do not discussed with you (maybe they do not know). It can only come from experience, if i boo boo here, next round pay attention here.

This balcony above a room thing, roof extension, sloping gradient, no of drain holes....all are critical factors. I guess having a forum like this will give others a perspective to what to look out for.

Like you, I also take these stuff as fundamentals in construction. The reality is contractors and engineers seem to always commit mistakes in these areas. I spoke to a civil engineer about these issues and he said that the technical drawing he provide can never be full-proof and the knowledge gap can only be closed by an experience builder/ foreman on the ground to do practical adjustment. Since knowing this, I have paid close attention and not place too much faith on the expertise of professionals.

You are right that roof extension, slope gradient, number of drain holes are critical and there are also other important factors such as wind direction that could bring rain into the gaps of the roof, the amount of water to discharge and drain from the roof during a thunder storm, how to weather proof the walls and RC slab, etc... are some of the considerations in planning the design and form part of the ongoing discussion with the foreman and builder during construction. I find myself at the site almost everyday to ensure that the construction goes as planned. Even then, due to my limited technical knowledge, carelessness and oversight, I have to concede that there were several mistakes that I made during the construction and design too.

thanks lee, will look thru the URL. Did you engage them separately or spec this into the main con contract?

I put this as the specs in the main contract. Whole house waterproofing instead of only wet area.

Edited December 9, 2010 by leechaorui

[Aiky 0]

Messaged you the contact.

Yeah, the building process was a steep learning experience. Lots of hassles and headaches but it was also satisfying. I was overseas during most of the construction and so could not monitor as closely as I would like. But thankfully, I had a very experienced and hands-on main con (apart from that combination of oversight).

One of the things I did learn is that so many things can go wrong in building a house and there is no perfect design. Usually there will be some minor defects to fix shortly after moving in.