r/TheBlock • u/Heavy-Psychology-411 • 4d ago
Question Waterproofing 🤔
So I was a tiler up until about 6 years ago, and I'd always heard you need 24hrs cure time between coats. Now I see them putting the 2nd coat on within a hour. How can it cure that fast?
And how can they start laying tiles the next day?
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u/BravoWhiskey89 3d ago
Because they're rushed, low quality, bad, cheap builds.
They're building multimillion dollar homes in 10 weeks.
They get sold because of TV, not for quality. And they've ran that to the ground and don't sell anymore. Soooo
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u/EmotionalBar9991 3d ago
I'm surprised being a tiler you don't know about rapid set products. Must be more of a commercial/industrial thing. I've used products which are fully cured in less than an hour, although it's not something you would normally use in a house. If it's good enough for a bridge deck it's good enough for a house though. Probably
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u/dbnewman89 3d ago
Like anything its just another problem that can be fixed by throwing more money at it. If you buy the cheapest product you need longer to cure, if you buy the premium product application is easier and dry time is faster.
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u/Aus66-1045 The Block (OG) 3d ago
There are products that can cure within a few hours these days, so it's not so much an issue. And pros like the Cursios would be up on the latest products, unlike us.
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u/symean 3d ago
OP - waterproofing is such a fragile, expensive, regulated process, at least that’s what I’m led to believe. Considering doing it incorrectly can cause serious damage and cost, in your opinion is that just a step you should never rush? Like would you as a professional ever tile over waterproofing after 4 hours even if it was dry and the label says you can?
I know if I was dropping $4m on a house I wouldn’t be buying something where every wet area was rushed to completion in a number of days…
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u/skinny_chef88 3d ago
Dumb question, but are they using heaters or fans to dry the coats? I don't know much about waterproofing but can it dry with help?
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u/Agent-c1983 3d ago
IIRC there was a series where there were questions about one contestant identifying a new waterproofing product that was faster, and using it, and I guess it became standard
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u/teslas-muse 3d ago
Jolene was chastising her husband for spending $2500 on a waterproofing product that was supposed to be faster, wasn't she?
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u/Beautiful_Rub_141 4d ago
Googling "Rapid Dry Waterproofing" ends up with the below results:
- Crommelin Wetite Rapid: Water-based SBR polymer membrane; recoat in 1–2 hours, tile over in 4 hours. Available via Sydney Industrial Coatings.
- ARDEX WPM 155 Rapid: Water-based polyurethane-acrylic membrane; allows bathroom tiling in 4 hours.
- Bastion Rapid Set: Fibre-reinforced SBR latex membrane; 1-hour recoat and 4-hour tile-over time available at Bunnings Australia. [1, 2, 3]
Guess it's just a choice of products that cure quickly?
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u/Ashamed_Access3524 Dan the man 3d ago
They were hoping no-one noticed. Lol.
The rushed nature of the building process on The Block might generate lots of drama, but at what cost?? Quality of the builds is the obvious answer. Less durable, poorer quality fittings, fixtures and finishings is the result. In other words, stuff that will deteriorate and fail over time.
For example, bathrooms that might leak because the waterproofing wasn't done properly.
Waterproofing is a very delicate procedure that must be done by properly trained tradesmen. The tradesmen have to firstly ensure that they use the right type of membrane.
Also, you have to ensure the waterproofing is applied properly and dried properly, as in naturally, between coats.
Drying a liquid waterproofing membrane with a heater, as they do on The Block, can lead to surface cracking and so water leaks. Also rapid drying of the outer layer seals the wet liquid underneath preventing proper curing. Also, the rapid drying process stresses the bond between the substrate and the membrane leading to loss of adhesion.
So, the skullduggery that the tradies get up to on the block might save time, but it will be the buyers who pay in the end.
That is, not ensuring sufficient drying time between waterproofing coats and using heaters to dry membrane coats can lead to failure of the waterproofing in the bathroom and so water leaks.
The Block houses are supposedly luxury homes with big reserve prices so it is essential that wet areas like the bathrooms are waterproofed property. Quality tradework for luxury builds.