Structural repair works at North Fremantle townhouse complex to stop water ingress

One of Conspar's ongoing projects is structural repairs to a townhouse complex in North Fremantle to stop water ingress from causing property damage.

Conspar began with an inspection of the complex, which included common access areas such as walkways and staircases, as well as entrances and courtyards of individual townhouses and the underground carpark.

Signs of water ingress were found such as rusting structural steel posts; efflorescence, concrete cracks and concrete cancer at the ceiling of the underground carpark where repair attempts by others had failed; and mould on floor surfaces.

A destructive investigation had shown inadequate waterproofing of the floor surfaces to be the causes of the water ingress damage in addition to insufficient drainage systems.

Conspar set to work removing damaged floor surfaces down to the concrete substrate, including the staircases. Any cracks in the concrete were then repaired.

Rusted components of the structural steel posts were replaced with hot-dipped galvanized steel - a stronger barrier to corrosion than other times of metal - and waterproofed.

More efficient drainage tools were also installed.

The first layer of Conspar's waterproofing system was the applied to all floor surfaces, including the staircases, as well as down drainage systems and up wall to floor junctions.