Housing Associations
Overview
Hot Melt waterproofing systems have been installed successfully for over 50 years and have been specified on many prestigious new builds in the UK.
Its numerous advantages include: excellent life expectancy and performance, competitive installation costs and its speed and ease of application.
The Material
Hot Melt systems are formulated from blending modified bitumen, polymers and natural or synthetic rubbers. It is further reinforced with a high tensile polyester fabric.
The product arrives on site in containers containing separated blocks or ‘cakes’ of material. These cakes are then fed into a melter at a controlled temperature in the region of 200°C.
It is applied as a hot liquid in two layers (nominal thickness of 6mm) directly to a prepared structural deck to form a seamless self-healing rubberised monolithic membrane.
Key Benefits
- The most common application of Hot Melt is as an inverted roof system. As a ‘protected system’ Hot Melt inverted roofs have many benefits, not least that they can be installed completely flat thus eliminating the need for screeds to falls and tapered insulation – resulting in less cost, weight and time.
- Hot Melt is a fully bonded monolithic membrane. This eliminates the possibility of water being able to track beneath or behind the membrane. The membrane remains ‘live’ throughout its life enabling it to self-seal minor cuts or penetrations under the right conditions.
- The system offers excellent flexibility and adhesion to clean, dry and frost-free surfaces down to temperatures as low as -18°C.
- The systems hot liquid application makes sealing complex roof details and penetrations simpler and more flexible. Homogeneous laps allow work to proceed out of sequence and upstand details can be completed first to allow other trades to proceed.
- Designed to last the lifetime of the structure, it offers highly effective waterproofing for the design life of the building.