Balcony water testing and leak reports

A balcony water test is a controlled experiment. Instead of guessing from a stain on a ceiling, we reproduce the leak on purpose, under conditions we can see and control, while someone watches the room, garage or balcony directly below.

We start water at the lowest point of the balcony and work upwards in stages — the drain and the tile field first, then the grout and movement joints, then the door threshold, then the balustrade fixings and the wall above. Each stage runs long enough to show a result before the next one starts. When water appears below, we know which stage caused it, so we know which detail has failed.

That matters because almost every leaking balcony has several suspects at once, and the obvious one is often not the cause. Water gets in at a cracked movement joint and comes out three metres away through a light fitting. Testing in stages is the only reliable way to separate the detail that is leaking from the details that merely look bad.

Testing is not the same as a free quote

Our repair inspections and quotes are free. A water test is different work: it takes hours on site, it needs two people when there is a lot below, and it produces a written report you can hand to a committee, a manager or an insurer. It is charged as a service in its own right.

• Staged spray testing Controlled hose testing of one element at a time — drainage, tile field, grout and movement joints, threshold, balustrade fixings, then the wall and windows above. Volume and duration are held steady so the result means something.
• Dye tracing Coloured dye added to the test water so the leak path is confirmed rather than assumed. When dyed water shows up in the ceiling below, the argument about where it came from is over.
• Thermal imaging An infrared camera reads the temperature difference wet material creates, which maps how far water has tracked inside the slab, walls and ceiling — including damage well away from the visible stain.

Testing is non-destructive. Nothing is cut, lifted or drilled unless you ask us to, and if we recommend opening something up to confirm what is under the tiles, we tell you why and quote it separately before anything is touched.

You receive a written report, usually within a few days of the test. It is prepared so that a committee member or a property manager who was not on site can read it and understand exactly what happened.

• The address, date, weather conditions and which balcony was tested
• What we tested, in what order, and for how long
• Photographs of the balcony, the defects found and the water coming through below
• Thermal images showing the extent of moisture behind the surface
• Where the water is entering, in plain language, with the evidence for that conclusion
• What was tested and did not leak — often just as useful
• Our recommended repair, and what happens if it is left
• A written quotation for the permanent repair, if you want one

If the test is inconclusive — and occasionally it is, because some leaks only appear under wind-driven rain from one direction — the report says so, and says what the next step should be. We do not manufacture a conclusion to fill a page.

• Owners corporations and strata managers When a lot owner reports water and the committee has to decide whether it is common property or the owner’s responsibility, a test settles it on evidence instead of opinion, before any money is committed.
• Property managers and landlords A tenant reports a ceiling stain and the cause has to be identified quickly, documented for the owner, and either repaired or referred on.
• Apartment and home owners Water is coming into your unit from the balcony above, or yours is being blamed for a leak below, and you need an independent account of what is actually happening.

Reports are written to be handed on. Insurers, engineers and legal advisers all read them regularly, and the photographs and thermal images do most of the work.

The usual sequence on a leaking balcony is: regrout it, wait, still leaking; reseal the threshold, wait, still leaking; then finally lift the tiles and find that the membrane was never turned up at the door. Each of those rounds costs money, and the water keeps running through the slab the whole time.

A test done properly at the start replaces that sequence with one answer. It also protects you the other way: if the balcony above is not the source at all — and sometimes the water is coming from a failed window seal, a cracked render joint or a plumbing pipe — you find that out before authorising a balcony rebuild that would have changed nothing.

Concrete does not recover on its own either. Water sitting against reinforcement corrodes the steel, the steel expands, and the concrete spalls off the slab edge. What starts as a stain becomes concrete cancer, which costs several times what the waterproofing repair would have.

Water testing is quoted as a fixed fee before we start, so there is no open-ended hourly bill. The price depends on how many balconies are being tested, how long each stage needs to run, whether access to the lot below has to be arranged, and how high up the building the balcony sits.

Tell us the address, which balcony and what you are seeing below, and we will come back with a fixed price for the test and the report. If you go ahead with the repair, the report becomes the scope of works, so nothing is inspected twice.

If water is coming in right now and it cannot wait, our after-hours emergency call-out includes a temporary fix, a photo report of where we think the water is coming from and a written quote for the permanent repair.

• You send us the details The address, which balcony, what you are seeing below, and photos if you have them. Our online form takes photos and video straight from your phone.
• We quote the test A fixed fee for the test and the written report, with what is included set out in writing.
• We arrange access Testing needs the balcony and, where there is one, the space directly below. We coordinate with the manager, the owner or both.
• We test on site Staged spray testing with dye, monitored below, with thermal imaging as the water tracks through. Usually two to four hours for a single balcony.
• You get the report Written up with photographs and thermal images, delivered by email, with a quotation for the repair if you want one.
• We repair it, if you want us to We are a remedial specialist first — we can carry out the balcony waterproofing repair ourselves, with a Kerakoll system warranty.

Once the source is confirmed, the repair usually falls into one of these: balcony waterproofing and restoration, concrete crack and spalling repairs, render crack repairs or cladding repairs.

• Leaking balcony repairs
• Concrete crack repairs
• Cladding repairs