Once upon a time there was… a terrace

The terrace is an ideal place to relax. And if it is located on the upper floors of the house, we get a wonderful opportunity to observe the site and admire the surroundings.

In the happy endings of many films, a happy family spends time on the terrace of their home. In life, unfortunately, events may not develop according to such a rosy scenario. Having “survived” its first winter, the terrace brings disappointment and repair work to its owners. And the “happy ending” comes (in some cases, only after several years), when the owner corrects all the mistakes made during the construction of the terrace.

What defects can there be?

Typical defects are falling off facing tiles, a cracked base plate, water penetration into rooms located below or dampness of the walls of rooms adjacent to the terrace. They occur not because terraces, as special architectural forms, are characterized by the formation of such faults, but because the developer saved on the correct construction of this zone or the builders did not have enough knowledge and accuracy.

Typical mistakes

We present to your attention a “hit parade” of typical mistakes made during the construction of a terrace, their consequences and ways to eliminate them:
Water getting under the floor tiles. When freezing, the water tears the tiles off the base. When laying tiles, use the required amount of adhesive solution, leaving no air voids.
Using low-quality tiles or tiles of the wrong type, for example, non-frost-resistant tiles.
On large terraces, it is recommended to take measures for so-called dilatation, i.e. isolation of vertical building structures from horizontal concrete surfaces. Thus, in the concrete layer, structural dilatations should be made along its entire thickness, as well as extreme dilatations (in the corners between the terrace and the building body). And the resulting cracks should be filled with an elastic mass specially designed for this purpose. In this case, problems may arise if the cracks are too wide and the sealing material used is inappropriate.