Hi there,
Welcome to Episode 15 of ‘Waterproofing Wisdom’. In this month’s edition we uncover:
✔️ The ‘tick-box’ designs that look good on paper, but fail in reality
✔️ Why even well-intended specifications can create major liability risks
✔️ The importance of contracts and what they really mean, to ensure clients are well protected.
I think this content will be especially relevant to Project Managers and Architects.
You can watch the short 3-minute video below, or read on for the highlights.
Introduction
Not all waterproofing design can be viewed as equal.
To illustrate this point – using a spirit level I found in my loft – a waterproofing design that claims to be a waterproofing design, but takes no responsibility for the design, is worse than useless.
Waterproofing Wisdom
When poorly procured, basement waterproofing design can lead to costly failures, delays, and liability risks.
Waterproofing documents that incorporate waterproofing design – but in reality, don’t actually deliver a suitable design that a competent person will take responsibility for – can lead to a skill gap in a project, and significant problems further down the line.
Closing Comments
When it comes to waterproofing design, there is no substitute for using a waterproofing specialist.
Here at CLW, we work with outstanding project managers and design teams to ensure waterproofing strategies are well-designed, procured and delivered on site.
We love to talk about waterproofing. If you’d like to discuss a project, or just waterproofing in general, drop a reply to this and we’ll set something up!
Many thanks,
Ben Hickman
Technical Director, CSSW London Waterproofing
0207 458 4073 info@clw.consulting
Hello, and welcome to another episode of waterproofing wisdom.
This time I want to talk about; when is a waterproofing design worse than useless?
This past weekend I did some DIY, and I went into the loft and I pulled out this spirit level because I needed to put up some shelves for the kids.
And I, honestly, I haven’t seen this spirit level in about ten years. And I laughed when I saw it, because scratched in, under the bubble, I hope you can see, is ‘NOT LEVEL’.
It’s a spirit level. That’s not level. It will not tell you level. In fact, it will tell you NOT level!
And you can imagine if I tried to put up the shelf and you know, you put in one fixing, and then you swing up the shelf and you get it level, and put in another fixing, and then it’s level. But you can imagine stepping away from the shelf and saying, ‘oh, no, it’s not level at all’.
This spirit level is worse than useless. It’s actually slightly useful for a straight edge – and scratched into the yellow elsewhere is ‘USE ONLY AS A STRAIGHT EDGE’. But as a spirit level – it’s worse than useless.
And that’s a little bit like some waterproofing designs that we see.
Sometimes people produce these documents that have the appearance of being a design. It’ll be, you know, forty pages of text about BS8102, it’ll have a whole bunch of BBA certificates, and lots of detailed drawing – sometimes even project-specific detailed drawings. But in the small text somewhere it’ll say; ‘this isn’t a waterproofing design’.
In the example there in the text, somebody’s written ‘we will provide the design team with a suitably competent person with relevant expertise and structural waterproofing’. And then on the next line it says, ‘we do not take on the role of the waterproofing designer’. And so it gives the appearance of a waterproofing design, but you shouldn’t trust it as a waterproofing design.
And we see that causing issues a lot.
And you know, I’m not trying to have a go at anybody in particular with what’s on screen, I’ve tried to anonymize it. But it has big implications, and one of them is in terms of contract. BS8102 has this clause in it that says you should appoint a waterproofing specialist, and ‘appoint’ is quite a contractual word.
A contract is simply an offer, plus acceptance, plus consideration. Consideration is just cash or a benefit of some sort.
So when somebody puts forward a waterproofing design, that’s not a waterproofing design – and it’s normally a supplier, often the client will have no contract with that supplier at all. The only people that would have a contract with that supplier is the contractor, and that contract isn’t to design the waterproofing, only to supply goods.
In that scenario, the waterproofing designer (who isn’t actually a waterproofing designer) hasn’t been appointed to the design team, and the client and the design team have no recourse if something does go wrong.
So I just, I wanted to raise that and let people know – make sure that your spirit level IS level before you use it as a spirit level.
Make sure your waterproofing design IS a waterproofing design before you use it as a waterproofing design.
Thanks for watching, and do get in touch if you ever want to talk about basement waterproofing.
Thanks.