Our front veranda was originally a timber veranda. Because we are building internal rooms underneath it we are needing to waterproof the veranda so that the water can’t leak through.

We had been give some pretty poor advice previously that we could keep the timber and apply a heavy duty varnish to waterproof it, or we could not bother waterproofing it and actually add what was essentially a roof under the veranda so that the water that leaked through wouldn’t reach the rooms under it. Both of those were certainly not ideal, or even viable solutions.

What we decided to do instead was to tile the front veranda in order to waterproof it.

Before you can apply tile to the timber veranda you need to prepare it. It’s not actually the tile that provides the waterproofing, it’s the products under the tile that waterproof the veranda.

First thing they did was to lay some villaboard over the timber and then apply some waterproofing products to the villaboard. The villaboard provides a solid and level surface for the tile and grout to adhere to once they are laid.

On all the seams of the villaboard they used what looked like a silicone or fiberglass based tape to seal the small gaps.

The most interesting product that I watched them use was the liquid flashing. It was a very heavy and thick paste that adheres to pretty much everything that it touches.

We were very apprehensive at first about tiling over our hardwood timber veranda, but so far we have been impressed with the results.

There is more to come as the tiles get laid.

Tags: Building, Construction, Tiling, Tiles, Waterproofing