Leaking balcony repairs Elwood

• Deco and post-war blocks Curved rendered balcony walls, steel window frames, a concrete slab underneath. The classic Elwood failure is at the base of the balcony wall, where the floor membrane was never properly turned up and sealed behind the render. Water gets in at that junction and runs down inside the wall.
• Low-lying ground and drainage Parts of Elwood sit low and drain slowly. Balconies with inadequate falls hold water after rain instead of shedding it, and standing water finds every weakness in a membrane that a quick shower never would.
• Concrete cancer in balcony soffits Salt air plus a wet slab equals corroding reinforcement. If the underside of your balcony is flaking, blistering or showing rust stains, the repair is a concrete repair as well as a waterproofing one, and doing only the waterproofing wastes the money.
• Balconies over habitable rooms In most Elwood blocks the balcony above is the ceiling below. Owners often find out there is a problem when a neighbour complains, which makes it an owners corporation matter rather than a private one.

A stain on a ceiling is rarely directly under the hole. Water that gets through a balcony membrane runs along the slab until it finds a way down, so the damage can appear metres from the entry point, or in the next apartment along.

Look for: a stain or blistering paint on the ceiling below, efflorescence (white chalky salts) on a soffit or garage ceiling, rust staining or flaking concrete underneath, damp skirting boards in the room below, tiles that sound hollow when tapped, cracked or missing grout along the wall junction, water pooling on the balcony after rain, or a musty smell in the room under the balcony.

Almost every balcony we are called to has already had someone silicone something. The reason those repairs do not last is that nobody established where the water was getting in before they started.

1. 01On-site inspection. We look at the balcony, the room below, the junctions, the drainage and the soffit, and we ask when the staining appears — after rain, after a certain wind direction, or all the time.
2. 02Water testing where it is needed. We isolate and flood-test sections in sequence so the entry point proves itself rather than being guessed at. See balcony water testing.
3. 03A written report with photos. What we found, where the water is entering, and what the repair involves. This is what owners corporations and insurers need.
4. 04A quote for the actual repair. Priced on what the balcony needs, not on a guess.

Not always, and this is worth asking before you accept a quote that assumes they do. Where the failure is confined to a junction, a threshold, a drainage outlet or a section of the balcony, we can often repair that area and re-waterproof it without stripping the whole floor.

Where the membrane itself has reached the end of its life across the whole balcony, a full strip and re-waterproof is the honest answer, and we will say so. What we will not do is quote a full rebuild on a balcony that does not need one, or patch a balcony that does.

We install Kerakoll waterproofing systems, and our director is a certified Kerakoll waterproofing specialist. Where a full system is installed to specification, the manufacturer warranty applies on top of our own workmanship warranty. Where balcony movement cracking is involved we are also a licensed HeliFix installer — see HeliFix crack stitching.

We have done a lot of work in Elwood and the surrounding bayside streets. If a ceiling downstairs is staining and the balcony above is the suspect, we will come and confirm it before anyone starts pulling up tiles.

We provide written inspection and defect reports with photographs, suitable for owners corporation meetings, insurers and building managers, and we are fully insured.

Balcony leaks rarely travel alone. We also handle concrete crack and spalling repairs, render crack repairs, cladding repairs and HeliFix crack stitching where structural movement is part of the picture.