Swimming Pool Waterproofing

Professional Swimming Pool Waterproofing in Pune & PCMC

Prevent water loss and structural damage with professional swimming pool waterproofing suitable for new construction and renovation projects.

Leakproofs by Betterwork has been carrying out this work across Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad for more than 10 years. Every job starts with a free deep-scan inspection, because the point where water appears is very often not the point where it enters.

Common problems we find

A pool is a water-retaining structure, and it is governed by IS 3370 rather than by the standards that apply to a roof. The tolerance for defects is correspondingly lower: a terrace that leaks slightly is a nuisance, a pool that leaks slightly loses thousands of litres a week and undermines whatever it sits on.

• Shell cracking. Shrinkage and thermal cracks in the RCC shell, most often at the wall-to-floor junction and at changes in section around the deep end. Under a permanent head of water, a crack that would be harmless in a wall becomes a continuous loss.
• Construction joints. The kicker joint between the raft and the walls is where a pool leaks if the waterstop was omitted, displaced during the pour, or lapped incorrectly.
• Penetrations. Inlets, outlets, main drains, underwater lights and vacuum points. Each is a fitting cast or cored into a water-retaining wall, and each is a leak path if the flange was bedded on mortar instead of on a proper seal.
• Balancing tank and plant room. A leak here is often mistaken for a leak in the pool itself. The plant room going wet, or unexplained top-up demand with a sound shell, usually points to the balancing tank or the circulation pipework.
• Deck-to-coping junction. Water from the deck runs behind the coping and into the backfill against the outside of the pool wall — attacking the shell from the side the waterproofing was never designed for.
• Chemical attack. Chlorinated and salt-chlorinated water degrades systems not rated for it. A coating chosen on price is progressively softened by the water it is holding back.
• Emptying damage. A pool drained in the monsoon with a high water table can float or crack from groundwater pressure underneath. Several pools we have been called to were cracked by being emptied, not by use.

How we treat it

Pool work begins with a measured water-loss test, because the first question is always whether the shell is actually the problem.

Survey. A bucket test to separate evaporation from genuine loss, then isolation of the circulation system to determine whether the loss is in the shell, the pipework or the balancing tank. Dye testing at suspected joints and penetrations. Only once the loss is located in the shell do we quote shell treatment — a meaningful proportion of “leaking pools” turn out to be leaking pipework, and that is a much smaller job.

Preparation. The pool is drained in a controlled way and at a time of year when groundwater pressure allows it — in Pune that generally means not in the monsoon. Tiling and existing render are removed to the structural shell. Cracks are cut out to a defined profile; active water is stopped with a hydraulic plug mortar or PU injection before anything else proceeds. The wall-to-floor junction is coved. The shell is then repaired with a polymer-modified structural mortar, and the substrate is brought to a saturated surface-dry condition before the membrane goes on.

Systems. A cementitious crystalline or polymer-modified cementitious tanking system applied in two coats at right angles to each other, at the specified coverage in kg per m² rather than by eye, with reinforcing mesh at junctions and around every penetration. Fittings are removed, re-bedded on proper flange seals and re-installed through the membrane, not over it. Crystalline systems suit pools because they work with the permanent head of water rather than against it and are unaffected by chlorinated water. The deck-to-coping junction is detailed and drained so deck water cannot get behind the shell.

Verification. IS 3370 water retention testing: the pool is filled and the level monitored over seven days, with permissible drop calculated against surface area and evaporation. We do not tile over the membrane until the pool has passed. Leakproofs by Betterwork issues the written warranty on eligible completed work after that test, with exclusions stated on the estimate.

Material options

As an authorized Dr. Fixit applicator and an Asian Paints and Birla Opus Paint partner, we can apply the system that best suits your property, budget and expected durability.

10-year warranty

Eligible projects are water-tested before handover and covered by a written 10-year warranty on the treated area.