Nearly two months after I was informed they would be starting work on my balcony, they finally applied the new waterproof membrane today. The time in between when they power-washed my balcony and when this membrane got applied is about two months as well. I’m not sure how clean the surface needs to be but I can tell you in two months, my balcony got pretty dirty again.
As you can see, an unlucky and giant bug had the misfortune of landing on the membrane while it was still wet. He’ll be stuck on my balcony forever. I have no idea if they need to apply this in several coats or not. I hope not because that would be a pain in the ass.
I can tell you the membrane emits an odour while it dries and it’s the type of smell that makes you think it’s not exactly healthy to be breathing it in. I am fortunate that if I have my front door propped open to the hallway, the positive pressure blows air out the 4″ gaps in my patio doors. So none of the outside air enters into my apartment and that’s the stinky air with the membrane gases. What is unfortunate, however, is that I can’t prop my front door open all night while I’m sleeping. I don’t have a chain or anything to keep it ajar and yet secure. Once the front door closes, the air pressure changes and the outside air starts to rush in instead. I could just close all my patio doors completely but then I’d get no ventilation whatsoever into my apartment and CO2 levels would rise steeply while I slept. I’d probably wind up feeling pretty terrible in the morning. I guess I could just crack open the patio doors slightly, just enough to get fresh air and limit the membrane gases from coming in.
I’ve been told that it takes at least a week for the membrane to dry, so my patio doors remain stuck for that long. Once it finishes drying, they’ll unblock my patio doors and I can put all my stupid patio furniture back on the patio, instead of lying in a pile in my living room.