Why Substrates Matter

As a waterproofing professional, it is crucial that you assess and understand the surface that you're waterproofing.

We are frequently seeing new products enter the waterproofing market, and it’s not unusual to be confronted with a new substrate on a building site and have to find a solution, sometimes with limited details.

Each substrate has its own characteristics and its critical points. For this reason, you must carefully assess the type and the state of the substrate, find out more details from the manufacturer and data sheets.

If you don't know the surface type, you could potentially be compromising your whole job, and worse still, it could come back to have you as the blame if the substrate fails because you accepted it.

However it’s not just new substrates that you need to research. There are still many waterproofers working over substrates that have been out in the market for many years now, such as Scyon, Hebel and yellow tongue flooring, who still do not follow the data sheets from manufacturers. It's a huge risk thinking you're doing the right thing out there and the manufacturer of that surface is recommending something else.

So it's simple. Download data sheets, brochures or manuals and understand what the substrate requirements are - before, during and once finished. Understand exactly what's required, which priming system you're going to need to put on there, and that will also determine potentially the type of waterproofing membrane system you'll use. Do you choose a liquid, a sheet, cementitious, or something else? You decide once you understand the substrate.

If you need more information on substrates and which ones require what preparation, you can contact the Gripset technical team on 1800 650 435.

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