Choosing the right waterproofing membrane is crucial to ensuring your commercial or industrial project stands strong against water intrusion for decades. Whether protecting parking decks, water/wastewater tanks, tunnels, or plazas, understanding membrane types, applications, and specification criteria enables successful waterproofing.
This guide compares liquid-applied and sheet membranes, explains CIM’s product lineup for various substrates and environments, and shares installation and QA best practices to avoid costly errors.

Peace of mind starts with the right protection, and the right partner.

When it comes to waterproofing systems, a warranty is more than paperwork, it's a manufacturer’s formal promise that the product will perform as intended. It assures the building owner that the materials are free from defects and provides a path forward if issues arise. Most warranties are signed by both the building owner and a representative of the product manufacturer and are designed to build confidence in long-term performance and durability.

Erosion occurs when winds or water interact with soil and rock, causing the affected earth to wear away. The most common example of erosion is at the beach, where tide patterns cause water to move up onto the shore and away from the shore, dragging the sand out to sea and changing the landscape. 

To remedy this, communities have built retaining walls that follow parallel to the shoreline to help stop surface and subsurface erosion. While the beach may be the most thought of place where erosion occurs, it also happens onshore. Torrential downpours can wreak havoc by causing flooding and extreme soil erosion. Like beach erosion, there are ways to mitigate this issue.  

Industrial waterproofing projects require a specialized coating system to meet specific coating specifications. The size and scope of work will influence the application method of these coatings. 

For this discussion, we will review factors to consider when spray-applying waterproof coatings on large-scale projects and the types of spray equipment needed to apply waterproofing materials. Projects with an abundance of vertical walls, overhead surfaces, and minimal risk for overspray are generally excellent candidates for utilizing spray equipment.  

Typically, the spray equipment used for waterproofing products can be classified as airless, air-assisted airless, or plural component spray equipment. Always use equipment recommended by the waterproofing material manufacturer.

Let's begin by pondering this question: Why is waterproofing given less priority (left out entirely) during the pre-construction planning phase of any commercial or residential projects?  This trend is truly baffling as proper waterproofing care leads to innumerable benefits in the long-term life and performance of any construction project.

Related Article: Waterproofing is the Future of Construction

Cold, fluid-applied waterproofing membranes are popular choices in the construction and building industries because of their versatility in areas where traditional sheet waterproofing or hot-applied membranes are not options. Cold, fluid-applied waterproofing membranes can be applied to both vertical and horizontal surfaces and, when installed correctly, should last for many years. Understanding and following the installation guidelines will help ensure the application's success. Cold, fluid-applied waterproofing membranes’ robust physical properties and long-lasting performance are why manufacturers publish application and installation guidelines that must be followed.

The construction industry faces many safety challenges as the work environment is always changing in response to the specific job at hand. One of the most challenging environments is working within confined spaces. There are numerous safety regulations in place meant to keep construction workers safe.

Cooling towers are often considered a challenging environment for coating systems. 

A waterproofing warranty is a legally binding agreement which a company guarantees that some or all its work will be free of defects, typically for a specific length of time, and is normally approved and signed by both the owner of the project as well as a representative of the company manufacturing the product. A warranty provides for a remedy in case there are certain problems with the product provided to the customer.  The intent is to provide peace-of- mind to the customer, ensure the product is backed by the company and is consistent with claims related to performance and reliability of the product. If you purchase a waterproofing solution and later discover that it’s defective, you can file a claim with the company – assuming the waterproofing solution is still under warranty – to recoup some or all the cost related to the product.  A warranty is essentially a company’s assurance that its product will live up to its claims.

The World Trade Center memorial (WTC) in New York City contains two enormous fountains which presented many waterproofing challenges. 

The contractor team spent over 18 months installing the concrete waterproofing system that was selected for the job. Here are the methods utilized: