According to statistics, most often repairs are carried out in the bathroom. This is because this room is most susceptible to the formation of moisture. Water is destructive to any coating in a room. Penetrating inside the finishing materials, water rapidly destroys them.
Also, with increased moisture, harmful microorganisms such as mold and fungi develop. For this reason, how to make the bathroom waterproof becomes a very important question. Isolating a room is the only way to resist water. By keeping water out of the finish, the insulation keeps your renovation intact.
How long the renovation in the bathroom will last you, directly depends on the quality of the waterproof. There is a whole list of ways how to make a bathroom waterproof and it is worth taking care of each of them to create maximum protection for the renovation in the room.
- Inorganic finishing materials
- Tiles for walls and floor
- Professional plumbing
- Exhaust fans
- Silicone sealant for connections
- Waterproofing in the shower area
- Additional drain
Even the most beautiful and high-quality repairs can quickly fall into disrepair if you don’t take care of bathroom waterproofing. The quality of the insulation will keep your bathroom attractive and spectacular for years to come, without the need for new renovations.
Current Methods how to Make Bathroom Waterproof
If you are planning to make a high-quality waterproof in your bathroom, then this should be planned even before the renovation stage. Choose the right finishing materials and take care of a high-quality plumbing installation. A detailed analysis of each stage will allow you to come to an understanding of how to make a bathroom waterproof with high quality so that the room will be beautiful for many years.
1. Use Inorganic Finishing Materials
The first step in every renovation is the choice of materials. For a bathroom that is highly exposed to moisture, it is not recommended to use organic materials. Wallpaper for walls, wood floors, MDF countertops are very attractive, but they are not a good choice for a bathroom.
Such materials are highly susceptible to moisture and can swell and deteriorate over time. In addition, organic materials are poorly resistant to mold and mildew, which thrive in a humid room.
Give your preference to inorganic materials in the bathroom. Stone, granite, quartz, metal, ceramics are excellent materials for bathroom cladding. These materials are impervious to moisture and are very resistant to the appearance of microorganisms.
When installing walls, it is also worth taking care of using waterproof drywall. Remember that choosing the right materials for use in the bathroom plays a decisive role in ensuring waterproofing.
2. Choosing Floor and Wall Tiles
As we mentioned earlier, the use of inorganic materials in bathroom finishes has a very positive effect on its waterproofing. Therefore, one of the best options for wall covering is to use ceramic tiles. Ceramic tiles are waterproof and your walls will be completely protected.
Tiles made from various inorganic materials can also be used for flooring. You can choose tiles made of marble, ceramics, porcelain stoneware, and other materials. These materials have excellent leakage protection performance. Correctly installed tiles will allow all moisture to drain gently into special drains.
If you are not attracted to ceramic tiles on the walls of the bathroom, then there is an alternative. She is using special, waterproof paint. It should be understood that this is a special type of paint and usually they are glossy. If you decide to paint the walls in the bathroom, be sure to discuss this with the repair company before choosing paint. They will tell you which paint to choose so that it is suitable for such a wet room.
3. Well-Installed Plumbing
Well-installed plumbing is of great importance in a bathroom renovation. A small leak can lead to colossal problems that can amount to not one thousand dollars.
To avoid this, you should hire a professional to install your plumbing. A qualified plumber with vast experience in this area will confidently complete the tasks and his work will guarantee you safety from leaks.
Plumbing installation is not a part of the repair that is worth saving. If you don’t have professional skills, you can make lots of bathroom mistakes. You may not notice this at first glance, but over time, a leak can make itself felt. And since the pipes are inside the wall, then usually people find out about the leak too late, when all the repairs carried out in the room may be at risk.
Since monitoring the condition of the plumbing is very important, it is recommended to leave access to the main plumbing unit. Usually, for this, they leave a small niche in the wall, covered with offices. If you have all the walls in the bathroom tiled, then you can consider installing access to plumbing from another room. For example, you have a bathtub adjacent to a laundry room in which it is convenient to make access to plumbing fixtures. If you do not know how best to do this, discuss this with the company that will renovate your bathroom.
4. Installation of Exhaust Fans
Another way to make a bathroom waterproof is to install exhaust fans. An intensive ventilation system allows you to quickly get rid of excess moisture in the bathroom.
Exhaust fans have a certain capacity and in most cases one fan per bathroom is sufficient. Nevertheless, if your bathroom is large, then it is worth considering the possibility of installing several fans.
Modern exhaust fans also have many useful features. They can turn on together with the light or using a motion sensor. There are also fans with a built-in moisture sensor and at a high level it will turn on to remove it from the room. They can even act as a lamp if you have a model with built-in LEDs.
When choosing an exhaust fan, first of all, start from its main characteristics, such as the power of the transmitted flow. After that, you can pick up additional features that you think are perfect for your bathroom.
5. Using Silicone Sealant
Surface joints are a very important place when it comes to waterproofing a bathroom. Water can accumulate in these areas and penetrate the materials. To prevent this from happening, use a silicone sealant.
Use sealant on all possible joints, especially where walls and floor are in contact. It is also worth taking care of the joints of the countertop with the wall, this is also a very vulnerable spot. And lastly, pay special attention to the shower area. Since water is most common there, this is the most dangerous place in terms of leaks.
The sealant will keep water from penetrating under the surface, thus keeping your bathroom waterproof. It is also worth noting that due to the lack of sealant, very often water accumulates in the corners, which leads to the appearance of mold and mildew.
6. Professional Installation of the Shower Area
The shower area is the wettest part of the bathroom. Since water is constantly flowing in this area, it must be performed as efficiently as possible. You should never neglect this because it can ruin the whole renovation in the bathroom.
As with plumbing, get professionals to create your shower area. An experienced tile installer will do everything according to the stipulated norms and you will not have water accumulating in the corners of this zone. Everything should be perfect for you to be comfortable taking a shower and so that the water flows smoothly to the drain.
7. Additional Drain in the Main Part of the Bathroom
Each of us has seen how the water flow is carried out in the shower area. A slight tilt of the tile towards the drain allows water to enter the sewer without hindrance. When it comes to the entire bathroom, usually the water that gets on the floor stays there until it dries.
This is not the best option, because you never know how much water will spill, especially if you have children. It’s easy to fix, just add another gutter directly on the bathroom floor. As in the case of the shower area, the flooring should be sloped so that water can flow easily into the drain. This enhancement will allow your room to stay dry even if you spill huge amounts of water on the floor.
Is it Worth doing the Waterproofing by Yourself?
Many people believe that since the bathroom is small, it can easily be repaired on its own without the involvement of professional contractors. Unfortunately, the size of the room does not affect the complexity of the work performed.
It is quite difficult to carry out a high-quality renovation in the bathroom, especially if you care about waterproofing. Nevertheless, nothing is impossible, but it is worthwhile to understand that this can take much longer.
We would recommend that you divide the types of work and do some of it yourself, and entrust more complex stages to professionals. First of all, professionals should be entrusted with work with plumbing and tiles. In these works, skill and experience are very important, and you can apply sealant, glue baseboards, and other details.
This way you can save some of the budgets and be sure that the main elements of the repair are done professionally. In this case, the renovation in the bathroom will last you much longer and will be in excellent condition.
