In disputes over home purchases, many people are most afraid of buying a house with leaks. In Taiwan, with its rainy climate, not only do pre-owned homes and newly built apartment complexes suffer from leaks, but the water leaks are also often reported in public spaces such as courtyards and roofs. It is actually normal for regular builders to strengthen the waterproofing of public spaces such as courtyards and roofs, and homeowners should pay more attention when viewing properties. In addition, some builders also offer a warranty for waterproofing, so if you are interested in buying a home, you should ask about it before making a decision. If a leak occurs, the builder will handle it, and the warranty for waterproofing should be clearly stated in the purchase and sale agreement. It is best to have everything clearly written in black and white for added security.
It is very important to properly complete the basic waterproofing work.
The most feared aspect of buying a house is finding a defective one. Water leakage is a nightmare for many people. Compared to second-hand homes, new construction projects are relatively straightforward, but if you don't want to encounter a leaky house, it's important that the builders have done a good job of waterproofing during construction. Kang Yongxin, General Manager of Da Xin Waterproof, pointed out that in new construction projects, waterproofing is mainly focused on the exterior walls, the top floor, the terrace, the central courtyard garden, and the basement.
The top floor, terraces, and central courtyard all have some similarities in their waterproofing materials. For the top floor, the general process includes preparing the base by cleaning away dust and debris, then using waterproof mortar to reinforce weak areas such as the structural joints. The day with a humidity level below 8% is chosen, and time is taken to remove dust from the base coat while it is still wet. Sealing the edges of the pipes and repairing the construction seams using filling material is then followed by laying waterproof tarpaulins and using high-performance liquid membranes. Of course, this varies depending on the specific conditions on site and the level of detail and complexity of the project, with costs ranging from 2 to 3 times higher than the price of a standard product. You can find out how to apply the waterproofing to your project by contacting the builder in advance; only then will you be able to be sure of the quality of the work.
Poor courtyard drainage and standing water problems do not mean that waterproofing is not done properly.
However, the common leakage problems in public gardens may actually be different from what experts think. For example, if a public garden has poor drainage and water retention issues, does that mean the community’s waterproofing is inadequate? Kang Yongxin stated that water retention does not necessarily mean the waterproofing layer is not up to standard or that the garden is leaking. In fact, water retention in public gardens is actually quite common; generally speaking, as soon as the ground is slightly uneven or the drainage slopes are not properly installed, water retention is likely to occur. This often affects aesthetics or safety issues.
Furthermore, basement leaks are quite common. Things like elevator pit traps, mechanical parking pits, and continuous walls can easily leak water. Kang Yongxin pointed out that since the basement is dug underground, the soil on both sides of the house is water-filled, and once the earthquake disrupts the system, even if waterproofing was applied at the time, it will be difficult to completely stop water from seeping in. Unless the builder designed a double-layer wall drainage system outside the continuous wall during construction, there is no other way to improve the problem except by applying PU foam or single-component cement-based penetrating waterproofing paint.
Construction quality and the grade of the waterproof material are crucial.
Regarding the waterproofing of the housing section, most of the focus is on the indoor floor, bathroom, window frames, and balcony areas. For window frames, Kang Yongxin stated that they mainly employ methods such as reinforcing the corners on both sides of the frame with eight-sided mesh reinforcement and applying single-fluid PU reinforcement, and applying elastic composite waterproofing material.
But for bathrooms that every household has—such as when implementing the common dry-and-wet separation system—the waterproofing coating for the dry area requires a height of approximately 1.5 to 1.8 meters; for the wet area, the height is 1.8 meters, etc. In fact, waterproofing in bathrooms is arguably the most difficult part of waterproofing; Kon Yongxin pointed out that this is mainly due to focusing on areas such as around corners, pipe edges, the water-dropping areas, and cracks in the floor, as well as the water-stop strips on the door thresholds. The procedure requires applying the waterproofing material to the structure, followed by applying a primer and then painting and tiling.
The aforementioned bathroom waterproofing foundation project can also result in a price difference of up to 4-5 times. According to Kang Yongxin, the main reason for the price difference is the difference in construction quality and the grade of the waterproofing materials. Although contracting companies can lower costs by deciding to have the construction carried out by an external contractor, the different construction methods make it difficult to ensure the overall final quality of details; furthermore, typical waterproof materials have different properties and strength compared to high-tech materials imported from abroad, and each contractor has different sales positioning for their properties and quality. Therefore, the cost difference for waterproofing is significant.
Please note whether the waterproof warranty is explicitly stated in the purchase and sale agreement.
In recent years, builders have also started offering waterproof warranties for new projects. Hong Guangjun, General Manager of Li Hai International, stated that in previous years, due to the sluggish housing market, to attract customers’ attention, many builders began offering 1-2 year waterproof warranties. Some builders even advertised that they could provide warranties for up to 10 years. Renba, a real estate coach for billionaires, stated that builders’ approach to waterproof warranties is that if there is even a single leak, they will fix it and make it better. However, he admitted that if they really find a leak, the chances of having to completely replace the entire system are not high; most of the time, they can only temporarily stop the leak.
However, it should be noted that if the customer performs the renovation themselves and removes the tiles, it will inevitably damage the waterproof layer, therefore it is not covered by the warranty. Alternatively, if the property is a newly built unit, the same principle of waterproof warranty does not apply.
Although the current legal regulations do not require mandatory water-proofing warranties, if the builder offers a water-proofing warranty and emphasizes this service in advertising posters, Hong Guangjun suggests that when people are looking at properties, they should proactively ask the sales representative to confirm whether the warranty service is actually provided. When it comes to signing the formal contract, they should also pay attention to whether the water-proofing warranty is explicitly stated in the “Warranty Period and Scope” section of the sales contract. In the event of future water leakage issues, this can serve as proof to hold the builder accountable.
Tips:
To ensure that the exterior walls and window frames of a house do not leak water, a rain canopy plays a very important role. However, due to the excessive water infiltration in the early days of the development, it was often mocked as a place to buy “bird nests” with money. Moreover, many developers packaged the sales price to make “rain canopies” look like a “cheap product,” which has tarnished the reputation of these products. Therefore, it was not until 2018 that legislation was enacted to completely change the system to “no square footage, no price,” but after this system came into effect, Hong Guangjun admitted that he had observed a significant decline in the design of rain canopies in recent times, and even that they were no longer made at all. This has led to a worsening of water leakage problems on the exterior walls and window frames. He therefore recommends that when people buy a house, they should not avoid houses with rain canopies and pay attention to whether the developer has installed waterproofing to strengthen these two aspects of construction. Only then can the house be safe and comfortable to live in.
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