For social landlords, implementing an effective and well-planned regime of maintenance is critical to ensuring their residents’ homes are safe and fit for purpose – particularly when it comes to waterproofing, Roland Jackson of SOPREMA explains more.
Like every other variety of residential accommodation, social housing developments require a programme of ongoing diligence and maintenance. If the programme is planned and executed effectively, assets will remain in a good state of repair for longer, thus providing a secure and safe home for residents while minimising long-term building costs for authorities.
Various refurbishments of walkways, roofs, stairwells and balconies will be central to such programmes. To ensure such projects are successful and deliver on performance and value, several considerations need to be made.
Firstly, social housing refurbishment works often need to accommodate high levels of residents in situ during implementation, making it extremely important to plan carefully.
Minimising disruption and inconvenience, without sacrificing on the quality of delivery, is therefore critical. To this end, selecting products that are simple and quick to install, have non-slip properties, and are hard-wearing can have a tremendous impact.
Often the areas that are most commonly refurbished are those with the highest footfall, including walkways, entrances and stairs – to minimise disruption in the future, it is crucial that robust, long-lasting products and solutions are adopted.
It’s important to also consider that social housing refurbishments involve people’s homes. All residents should expect improvement works to result in an aesthetically pleasing finish, while individual preferences may need to be taken into account. For example, some residents may not be comfortable with torch-on waterproofing solutions being used in their homes, from both a fire risk and a noise perspective.
Choosing the right waterproofing products is therefore essential and opting for a PMMA-based liquid waterproofing membrane and PU system aligns with many of the aforementioned considerations and requirements. Firstly, this sort of product is quick to install and cure, with much of the work being possible to complete within a day (moving from primer to finish takes only a few hours). This helps to minimise disruption for in-situ residents during the refurbishment work.
PMMA-based solutions are also robust, durable, and easy for maintenance teams and residents to clean and manage. This makes them ideal waterproofing choices for areas such as balconies, capable of withstanding the additional weight of home furniture such as tables, chairs and plant pots.
In regard to providing an aesthetic finish, PMMA-based waterproofing products are also typically available in a range of finishes that can be customised to suit a customer or resident’s preferences. Tiled finishes offer a solution that is pleasing on the eye, and many products offer a variety of colours that can be utilised to create numerous decorative effects on balconies and terraces.
The choice of finish will depend on the application in question. Flat roofs, parking areas and some terraces may benefit from a Deco structure finish made up of acrylate-based chips, or a Deco mix finish based on acrylate flakes and coloured, kiln-dried quartz sand.
In terms of safety, an important feature of PMMA is that it does not need to be a torch-on solution. This makes it perfect for environments where torch-on techniques cannot be used due to fire safety requirements.
As an alternative to PMMA-based waterproofing products, bitumen membranes can also offer a solution that provides quality, durability and a strong service life, especially for flat roofs.
For environments such as balconies, additional work will be required, in the form of either adding a walkway or placing balcony tiles on top of waterproofing systems. Furthermore, in high-traffic areas, bituminous waterproofing may be more prone to damage, which is another important consideration.
Ultimately, local authorities and social landlords need to have confidence that the chosen solution is fit-for-purpose and can deliver the required upgrade efficiently and to a high-standard. The best way to select the most appropriate solution is by partnering with an expert supplier who can provide the necessary guidance and product specifications.
Roland Jackson is commercial director at SOPREMA