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Technical articles from Inspec engineers and architects on below-grade waterproofing, roof decks, facades, windows, leak tracing and enclosure testing.

An article library, grouped by the question you are trying to answer

Inspec's engineers and architects write about the enclosure problems they meet on site: below-grade waterproofing, roof decks, façades, windows, and the slow work of proving where water actually enters a building. The sections below group those articles by subject so you can go straight to the one that matches your situation rather than scrolling a date-ordered list.

Waterproofing below grade

Waterproofing is Not Below-Grade Roofing, by David Campbell, RWC, AIA, argues that a buried waterproofing assembly is a different design problem from a roof: it is loaded by standing water and soil rather than drained by gravity, and it is largely unreachable once backfill is placed, so the detailing decisions made on paper are the ones the owner lives with.

For the service itself, see below-grade waterproofing.

Roof decks, material by material

The Roof Decks A to Z series looks at one deck type at a time — what it tolerates, how it fails, and what a re-roofing design has to account for before a new membrane goes on.

Tracing leaks and window failures

Design detailing and project decisions

Older and historic buildings

When an article is not enough

These pieces describe general principles and specific projects; they cannot diagnose your building. If you have an active leak, a re-roofing decision, or a design under review, building enclosure consulting is the place to start, or contact us and describe what you are seeing.

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Have a question about your own building?

These articles explain general principles. For a specific roof, wall or leak, talk to one of our consultants. Our consultants work across Chicago, Milwaukee and Minneapolis.

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All articles and papers

Every technical article and published paper in the library.

Further reading

From the technical library

Common questions

Why is waterproofing not the same as below-grade roofing?
A roof sheds water by gravity and can be reached for repair. A below-grade assembly is submerged against soil and hydrostatic pressure, sees little drying, and is buried behind backfill once construction ends. Details, materials and terminations therefore follow different logic, which is the argument David Campbell, RWC, AIA makes in the article of that name.
What is the Roof Decks A to Z series?
It is a running series in this library that takes one roof deck material at a time — structural clay tile, plywood, cast-in-place concrete, oriented strand board, structural fiberboard planks and others — and discusses how each behaves, how it deteriorates, and what a re-roofing design has to verify before new insulation and membrane are installed.
Who writes these articles?
They are written by Inspec's own engineers and architects, drawing on inspections, testing and investigations performed for building owners and managers. Several are case studies of specific projects; others explain a material, an assembly or a diagnostic method. Individual bylines appear on the articles themselves where an author is credited.
I have an active leak. Which article should I read first?
Start with The Art of Replicating and Sourcing Leaks to the Interior of Buildings, which explains why a leak has to be reproduced and traced before a repair is designed. If windows are suspected, the storefront window case study is useful. Reading is no substitute for a site investigation, so contact us as well.