HIDDEN WATER, REBUILT RIGHT

From above, these balconies looked fine. Tile surface. Lake views. No obvious signs of failure.

Underneath, water was pooling in low spots because the deck had never been properly sloped. A single undersized drain couldn’t keep up. Over time, standing water pushed through the aging membrane, saturated the sheathing, and began affecting the deck edges and surrounding siding.

The issue wasn’t cosmetic. It was systemic.

We opened the balconies down to the substrate and rebuilt the structure to handle water correctly before any finish materials went back.

Compromised sheathing was removed. New subfloor was installed, trimmed, and planed to create the proper fall toward new drainage points. Instead of relying on a single drain, we installed new scuppers and tied them into a fully wrapped waterproofing membrane so water now has multiple controlled exit paths built directly into the deck assembly. Surrounding siding was opened, repaired, and rewrapped where chronic moisture intrusion had occurred.

Only after the structure and waterproofing were corrected did we install the Ardex Watec drainage system. This creates a true drainage plane beneath the tile so incidental moisture and heavy rain can travel freely to the scuppers instead of becoming trapped beneath the surface. The surface was then finished with exterior rated porcelain tile designed to sit over a working drainage system, not act as one.

From the top, the balconies now look clean and minimal. Underneath, they are built to manage water correctly for the long term.