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Environmental Effects
There are many environmental factors that come into play when waterproofing with almost any kind of waterproofing membrane, whether it be single pack or two pack, water-based or solvent-based, so choosing your waterproofing product carefully is important.
Some of the most common environmental factors that can adversely affect the drying and/or curing of waterproof membranes include:
- Ambient temperature
- Substrate temperature
- Air flow
- Humidity
- Substrate moisture content
So let’s take a look at each of those factors and see what affect they have.
AMBIENT TEMPERATURE
Most waterproof membranes, especially one-part water-based products have an ideal drying/curing temperature. Outside this range, you can expect a drastic change in the time in which the waterproof membrane will dry and/or cure.
For example, a product such as Aquathane-XR, which states that it will dry (ready for re-coat) in one hour at 20 degrees Celsius, will take longer to dry at lower temperatures, and will probably not dry at all below ten degrees Celsius (specific variations in drying times will vary from product to product).
The converse is also true, that higher temperatures will cause the membrane to dry faster, however, once you go above about 30-35 degrees Celsius, most waterproof membranes will dry too quickly (especially two-part products such as Duram Crystoflex), causing a problem with surface crazing and/or cracking as the moisture is leached out of the surface of the membrane too quickly.
This is especially problematic where you have a combination of high temperatures and strong winds, which simply doesn’t give the still wet internal parts of the membrane a chance to release the moisture before the top layers are fully dry, causing a situation where the membrane appears to be dry, but is in fact still wet on the inside, and will often re-emulsify on contact with water.
In both cases where the temperature is quite low or quite high, you are better off applying multiple thin layers of waterproof membrane rather than trying to apply thick layers.
