Case study
West Melbourne Apartments
Prefabricated bathrooms with no waterstops, leaking into the building instead of the drain.
One defect, repeated on every floor
These are prefabricated bathrooms, and the builder had not installed waterstops.
Without them, water that should return to the drain instead runs out of the bathroom at the threshold and into the rest of the building. It is a defect built in at manufacture, which means it is not one bathroom with a problem - it is every bathroom of that type.
How it went
- 01
The bathrooms opened up
Stripped back to the substrate, the original waterproofing was there - it simply had nothing to stop water at the threshold, so it left the room instead of returning to the drain.
- 02
The same defect every time
Because these are prefabricated bathrooms, the missing waterstop was not one apartment having a problem. It was every bathroom of that type, built the same way.
- 03
One fix, repeated
Once the common cause was established the rectification became a procedure rather than an investigation: the same detail at the threshold and around every penetration, apartment after apartment.
- 04
Finished
Re-tiled and reinstated, with the water going back to the drain where it belongs.
The outcome
Water goes back to the drain where it belongs, and the building had one diagnosis to pay for rather than one per apartment.
