Mastering Blindside Waterproofing: A Proactive, Integrated Approach
The practice of blindside waterproofing, where the membrane is pre-applied to an excavation support system outboard of the concrete foundation wall, has a decades-long history of use on commercial building projects, and yet it is not uncommon for contemporary projects to experience unwelcomed surprises at the time of a building’s waterproofing installation.
These scenarios can force the team to scramble and either reluctantly accept installation details that may compromise the intended performance or consider time-consuming or costly changes to the waterproofing or building design. In this article, the authors highlight their experience with certain design decisions, site conditions, construction methodologies/materials, and service penetration configurations which are often disjointed variables that continue to be common sources of blindside waterproofing surprises. The authors provide recommendations for anticipating and integrating these variables into a coordinated blindside waterproofing design.
Publisher
Construction Specifier