Images courtesy Henshell & Buccellato

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Constructing basements to receive waterproofing
December 13, 2017

Consulting Architects
by Justin Henshell, FAIA, FASTM
Auditoriums and computer rooms that do not require daylight now occupy basements that formerly housed mechanical plants and vehicle parking. These sensitive occupancies require the spaces be waterproofed to prevent water from migrating through the basement walls and slab in contact with the wet, adjoining soil. (This article has been extrapolated from the second edition of the author’s The Manual of Below-Grade Waterproofing [Routledge, 2016].)

Basements are defined as habitable spaces constructed below the existing grade whatsapp number database or a grade that will be increased in height to cover it. (Some building codes define a ‘cellar’ as a habitable space entirely below grade and a ‘basement’ as a habitable space partly below grade.) They must be designed to resist soil pressure, as well as hydrostatic forces occurring from the accumulation of stormwater or from a water table varying in depth above the lowest level of the basement or perched above it on a watertight strata.