Atlanta Painting

Ah yes, the joys of water intrusion.  Since we have been having tons of rain, I thought that it may be relevant and helpful to include some articles on how to deal with water.

When I say CMU, or concrete masonry unit, I refer to block, EIFS, or stucco.  Most stucco buildings around Atlanta are not real stucco.  They are a synthetic stucco system like Dryvit or EIFS.  These systems are a series of drywall or foam-like panels that have a stucco compound sprayed or troweled over them.  Over time, these systems develop hair-line cracks that allow water intrusion.  As water continues to find its way into the building, it gets behind the paint and causes the paint to peel.  You can see evidence of this when you see the paint on the sides of stucco homes bubbling and blistering.  Once the paint has bubbled, you have lost adhesion, and it is only a mater of time before the paint peels off.

The first thing that you have is find the source of the water.  If the water intrusion is from the roof, windows, gutters, etc, you need to fix the leaks before repainting.  This article is written for the purposes of the water coming from hair-line cracks.

Here is how to waterproof CMU.

1. For large gaps, you must seal them using a urethane sealant.  Don’t be cheap with this.  Be thorough in sealing all of the large gaps.  Follow the manufacturer’s specifications.  Urethanes usually need 4-5 days of cure time before they can be coated.
2. Now you need a coating that is made for waterproofing.  Sherwin-Williams and DOW manufacture high quality waterproofing coatings.  In order to get these manufacturer’s warranties, the coatings must be applied by a professional.  Since this eliminates my DIY readers, I am going to describe how this process is done, so that you know what painters in Atlanta should be doing.  Waterproofing coatings should be applied using a spray and back roll technique.  This ensures two things.  One, the film thickness is adequate and, two, that the coating get pressed into the substrate.
3. You need to apply two coats of the waterproofer using the spray and back roll method.
4. After you finish the second coat, there are two things that the manufacturer’s check before granting a waterproofing warranty.  The first is mil thickness.  Most coatings must be applied at 30-40 wets mils.  The second factor is pinholes.  For proper waterproofing, there must be fewer than 10 pinholes per square foot.  This is a tedious, but necessary, process.  If you see that there are more than 10 pinholes/square foot or the coating is not thick enough, you need to spray another coating.

While waterproofing is a long and expensive process, it is absolutely necessary to prevent serious water damage.  If you need a professional to apply a waterproofing coating, call GreenWave Solutions.  Call us if you need painters in Atlanta, Window replacement in Atlanta, roofers in Atlanta, Atlanta Solar and more!