Browse Forums DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair 1 May 03, 2015 3:49 pm the large balcony off the second floor is leaking. the water is coming onto a car in the carport on the ground floor. is coloured yellow and sort of sticks to the car paint work til scrubbed. the tiles, like much else in this house, have seen better days and been laid by not the most amazingly careful person. things are being sorted and replaced as we can i guess my questions are (and yes i have searched) should a balcony 2 cars large have water proofing and if so....what kind.? if waterproofing is needed and the leak is only one spot.....how would it be tackled? if no waterproofing is needed ....what is the best fix please? is it as "simple" as redoing the grout in the affected area/s once they are identified? what grout would be best for what are smaller shiny tiles with not a lot of gap between. this has just been discovered ....but has been happening, we now realize, for some part of all the recent rain in Sydney. given it is leaking thro... is that in and of itself a problem?? ie is the cement of the balcony compromised in some way? many thanks for any help Re: large tiled balcony leaking to underneath car port 2May 03, 2015 3:53 pm Yes - a real worry for car - so wash it off when it occurs. Re: large tiled balcony leaking to underneath car port 3May 03, 2015 4:33 pm this is a shot of what appears to corrospond to the observable leak Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ this is a shot of another area that has been "patched" Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ the car will be left away from the spot that drips. there is no real current amount of water on the deck to see anywhere near the drip it might be like a roof i suppose and drip miles from the roof damage. there are heaps of gum tree debis on the deck but no large bits really Re: large tiled balcony leaking to underneath car port 4May 04, 2015 1:34 am It doesn't need to be waterproofed if it's not an enclosed liveable space below it. Waterproofing goes under tiles so to do it now would mean taking up the tiles and redoing them. Alternately there are some roofing products you could attach under the deck to form a waterproof ceiling which are designed for this, they slope and drain to where you direct it. Can't think of a product name off the top. Re: large tiled balcony leaking to underneath car port 5May 04, 2015 8:48 am cat_dunc It doesn't need to be waterproofed if it's not an enclosed liveable space below it. Waterproofing goes under tiles so to do it now would mean taking up the tiles and redoing them. Alternately there are some roofing products you could attach under the deck to form a waterproof ceiling which are designed for this, they slope and drain to where you direct it. Can't think of a product name off the top. thank you ok it is not enclosed in the carport underneath........so i am assuming no one ever waterproofed it. the balcony must have a reasonable slope as not that much water hangs around after rain. the carport ceiling is lined and when we bought 3 years ago it was nicely painted with good workmanship. given the repairs on the tiles above i am guessing that some leaks occurred and were finally attended to pre sale. no comment was made in the building inspection how then do i find which of the tiles above are the leaking ones? is there some easy simple way or do i need to regrout a large area thanks Re: large tiled balcony leaking to underneath car port 6May 04, 2015 10:04 am Any of the patch solutions will not work. Well maybe for a short time anyway. There are clear compounds you can paint over the whole area which would waterproof the area for a while but long term if you want to solve your problem as suggested above you need to remove the tiles, install a waterproofing membrane then re-tile. Not cheap but given your description of having seen better days, a total revamp would not only solve your leakage problem but modernise it as well. Stewie Re: large tiled balcony leaking to underneath car port 7May 04, 2015 12:17 pm thanks stewie D i guess i did not pick up above that it should be waterproofed. the cost of lifting , waterproofing and retiling is probably outside our capacity right now given it would have to be done by a tradesman. especially for an underused area. however i cant afford to ignore something that might be long term detrimental. the car port is probably 20 years but i will check with a neighbour who knows . anyone have any comment about either of these and their methoda http://www.megasealed.com.au/products-a ... ony-repair http://www.stonecareandrepairs.com/proj ... balconies/ or am i better off looking for local (northern sydney) tilers. they usually seem in short supply ! Re: large tiled balcony leaking to underneath car port 8May 04, 2015 1:48 pm If all you are looking at doing is a patch it job as I say you are better off getting a paint-on solution and doing it yourself. Neither of those two above would be cheap nor long term effective. Stewie Re: large tiled balcony leaking to underneath car port 9May 04, 2015 4:45 pm well i guess we have to replace with correct grout at least. it gets a lot of sun so i suppose it expands and contracts? the "mending" that is visible does not look like like correct grout . it needs some more investigation. some home owner stuff is too complicated for my brain which has no tradie skills thanks Re: large tiled balcony leaking to underneath car port 10May 04, 2015 6:30 pm Is the underside lined or open? Dry rot of the joists is a major consideration so simply waterproofing on top may not fix the whole problem if the underside is lined and you cant see what is happening. large tiled balcony leaking to underneath car port 11May 04, 2015 10:01 pm Grout isn't a water proofing agent, it is porous, so simply re-grouting won't water proof it. Edit: standard grout isn't. Seems there's additives you can put in that help.
Like Stewie said, a clear paint on solution is your best bet, though again like he said isn't a long term or perfect solution. You'd probably need to redo every so often. Re: large tiled balcony leaking to underneath car port 12May 04, 2015 10:07 pm Something like this perhaps (note I have no idea how expensive it is) http://www.duram.com.au/pds_var11var282 Re: large tiled balcony leaking to underneath car port 13May 05, 2015 9:31 am mgilla Is the underside lined or open? Dry rot of the joists is a major consideration so simply waterproofing on top may not fix the whole problem if the underside is lined and you cant see what is happening this is the issue like i said the underside was nicely painted and the plaster boards were in good condition when we bought. given it is cement i wonder why they enclosed the underneath. my previous two houses had similar set ups with cement balconies that created garages and/or carports/ and nothing was enclosed. obviously this looks vastly better but is now part of a problem i am beginning to worry has only an expensive solution. the word *termite* springs to mind given it is now damp. i am due an inspection this month and my usual guy is very helpful . i hope he has not retired as he suggested he might. Quote: Grout isn't a water proofing agent, it is porous, so simply re-grouting won't water proof it. Edit: standard grout isn't. Seems there's additives you can put in that help. Like Stewie said, a clear paint on solution is your best bet, though again like he said isn't a long term or perfect solution. You'd probably need to redo every so often. sounds like something like this needs to happen to keep it cheap, but hopefully reasonably, effective *get some of the plaster off and see what has been built in under the deck and see its condition * clean like mad on the deck , remove patched and bad quality grout and replace with some what is reputedly waterproof. some grout seems ok looking. other not so much. * cover with something like the "clear kote" any other thoughts please? i do appreciate all the input. i should have forseen this as a problem area but had not. Re: large tiled balcony leaking to underneath car port 14May 05, 2015 1:39 pm I assumed incorrectly that it was on a suspended concrete slab. If as you say the structure is wooden with tiles on top over a fibre/cement sheet base then you really need to fix this leak asap or you could possible end up having to replace the whole thing if the timber starts to rot. Stewie Re: large tiled balcony leaking to underneath car port 15May 05, 2015 3:30 pm Stewie D I assumed incorrectly that it was on a suspended concrete slab. If as you say the structure is wooden with tiles on top over a fibre/cement sheet base then you really need to fix this leak asap or you could possible end up having to replace the whole thing if the timber starts to rot. Stewie no stewie it is a concrete balcony i did not state that straight out i am sorry i just said in the first post Quote: ie is the cement of the balcony compromised in some way? the underneath of the concrete (ie what is visible as the underneath roof of the carport) has been covered in with painted plasterboard of some kind. presumably it is fixed to the underneath of the balcony with some sorts of wooden attachments so i am concerned about integrity of tiles/grout. what is happening in the area between the plasterboard and the underneath of the cement slab. is there/should there be waterproofing under the tiles.? Re: large tiled balcony leaking to underneath car port 16May 06, 2015 2:34 pm A lot of people assume that because it is concrete then it is impervious to water. Good quality, well vibrated concrete practically is but for a lot of jobs it is a bit porous so will leak through. What this means is that water will slowly get to the steel reinforcing which will start to rust. Once it starts to rust it will expand and start to crack the concrete. You definitely don't want that happening because to demolish and rebuild will be twice, maybe three times as expensive as a timber carport/balcony. Yes they should have used a waterproofing membrane under the tiles. I doubt there would be a regulation stating it would be compulsory seeing as it is an open carport below however, it would have been good building practice to do so. Maybe they installed one but did a poor job of it ? The tiles and grout I wouldn't be concerned about. They are after all just a cosmetic covering to the suspended concrete slab and as you mention above look pretty ordinary anyway. Stewie Re: large tiled balcony leaking to underneath car port 17May 06, 2015 5:13 pm thanks stewie D i am more clear now i will get some tiles up and see what can be seen. i totally understand re the reinforcing expanding. i will see what moisture levels show up at roof level tomorrow with the pest inspection. he will give it a go for me and see what happens out of curiosity. there might be some clue there as the carport ceiling is, right now, weirdly, totally unmarked in any way. i am now told that the strange *stuff* that was found on the car as a first clue, was not just this last few weeks . so the problem seemingly goes back a bit further than i had initially thought. it was previously assumed to have been bird droppings sigh many thanks i am still intrigued how the deck of the previous house did not leak a drop of water to the garage underneath when it was only coated with that synthetic grass when we arrived and left 20 years later. again an unused deck, but a very well constructed house. Re: large tiled balcony leaking to underneath car port 18May 07, 2015 12:12 am ok i am getting some history on this balcony. more is to come hopefully. it seems that it was damaged by a falling gum at some previous time. _reputedly_ it was fixed by insurance to a high standard with new tiles. ummmmm ?? this is so far second hand info. i have asked kind neighbour to get some real details of all work done from previous owner regarding waterproofing or not and extent of work. hopefully the tree damage repair is not the inappropriate white looking grout that is visible. i am prepared to now put money on it that it is. Re: large tiled balcony leaking to underneath car port 20May 27, 2015 10:24 pm HANG ON HANG ON. Everyone's jumping at the idea that the balcony is leaking. The underside of the balcony is lined, remove the lining and look what is in there. I can see a blue down pipe coming out horizontally near the bricks in the second shot. Sounds a lot like roof plumbign issues. 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