Four Main Factors Affect Your Waterstop Selection

There are many kinds of waterstops including metallic waterstops, rubber waterstops and plastic waterstops by raw material and internal waterstops and external waterstops by installation method. Choosing the right waterstop can be a confusing task if one is unfamiliar with waterstops. With years of waterstop production experience, we summarize several factors that affect the waterstop selection to help you choose waterstops correctly and quickly. When choosing waterstops, we may consider from the following aspects.

Material

According to its raw material, waterstops are divided into plastic waterstops, rubber waterstops and metallic waterstops. Their features are respectively listed below. For more details, please refer to Waterstop Types & Performances.

Category	Features
Plastic waterstop	Excellent resistant to corrosives and low temperatures. Outstanding waterproof performance. High tensile strength. Long service life.
Rubber waterstop	High elasticity, excellent wear resistance. Aging resistance and tear resistance. Strong adaptability to deformation. Great waterproof performance.
Metallic waterstop	High strength. Firm bonding. Great corrosion resistance And can be firmly fixed on the steel bar by welding.

Installation Method

Waterstops are often used for the installation of construction joints, deformation joints, expansion joints, etc. According to its construction methods, waterstops are divided into internal waterstops and external waterstops.

• Internal waterstop for wall applications

  Internal Waterstops

  Internal waterstops are mainly placed in the concrete deformation joints, expansion joints, and other concrete structures. Due to its excellent material elasticity and structural form, internal waterstops have strong adaptability to concrete expansion and contraction, thereby achieving great waterproof effects.

  The most important feature of the internal waterstop is its symmetry. That means the front and back surfaces are symmetrical and provided with the same protruding flutes, which makes its left part and right part symmetrical when being divided from the middle part. It is further divided into internal waterstops with a center bulb (CB type) and internal waterstops without a center bulb (CP type).

• External waterstop for ground slab applications

  External Waterstop

  External waterstops are waterstops specially placed outside the construction joints for waterproof and stopping leakage. It has a flat surface on one side and a concave-convex surface with protruding flutes on the other side. During construction, the flat surface is attached to the construction joint.

  It is mainly applicable to the floor or outside wall of the concrete structure (concrete water face). It is further divided into external waterstops with a center bulb (EB type) and external waterstops without a center bulb (EP type).

For more installation information, please refer to Waterstop Installation Guide.

Size

The waterstop size mainly depends on its width and thickness as the length can be extended by cold joint method and and hot joint method. In addition, the size of the waterstop is also in connection with its water pressure and deformation. When choosing waterstops, you may identify its width and thickness in accordance with the following standards.

• Application Environments
  Water Pressure: < 4 m
  Vertical Deformations: ≦ 10 mm
  Waterstop Specifications
  Width: ≧ 200 mm
  Thickness: ≧ 5 mm
• Application Environments
  Water Pressure: 4-8 m
  Vertical Deformations: ≦ 30 mm
  Waterstop Specifications
  Width: ≧ 300 mm
  Thickness: ≧ 6 mm
• Application Environments
  Water Pressure: ≦ 8 m
  Vertical Deformations: ≦ 20 mm
  Waterstop Specifications
  Width: ≧ 200 mm
  Thickness: ≧ 5 mm
• Application Environments
  Water Pressure: > 4 m
  Vertical Deformations: > 10 mm
  Waterstop Specifications
  Width: ≧ 350 mm
  Thickness: ≧ 8 mm

In addition, when its structural section size is greater than 500 mm, the waterstop shall have a minimum width of 300 mm. When the waterstop is placed at the corner, its turning radius shall not be less than 300 mm.

Application Environments

Waterstops are mainly used in infrastructure projects, underground facilities, tunnels, sewage treatment plants, water conservancy, subway projects, etc. We shall choose corresponding waterstops according to its application environments, such as corrosion resistance, acid and alkali medium and temperature requirements.

• Rubber Waterstop
  Generally used in basement exterior walls and post-cast strip with applicable temperature ranging from -45 °C to 60 °C. Rubber waterstops are unaccepted where the temperature exceeds 70 °C and there is strong oxidation or organic solvent corrosion like oils.
• Metallic waterstop
  Suitable for construction environments with corrosive elements. It is also commonly used in projects with small area yet high impermeability requirements , such as casting pits and electric furnace foundation pits in smelting plants. It should be noted that the metal waterstop has poor resistance to deflection and deformation, and shall not be used in areas where the contact width changes frequently.
• Plastic waterstop
  Suitable for a variety of environments, mainly for environments with corrosive organic solvents and high pressure such as oil refineries and reservoirs. When welding to waterproof boards, synthetic resin waterstop made of the same material is highly recommended for welding (EVA, PE, ECB, HDPE and PVC).

Rubber waterstop for construction projects

Metallic waterstop for construction projects

Plastic waterstop for building construction

These four factors aforesaid can help you choose waterstops suitable for your project quickly. In addition to waterstops, we also produce various types of waterstop strips and sealants. You can use them together with our waterstops to improve the waterproof performance of the project. We can also provide you with drawing planning, troubleshooting, installation guides and other services to make you free from any worries.