waterproofing planters

[lizzie]

I have had some planters built in block and am going to have them rendered (sand and cement) and then paint them with Masonry paint  I think I should do some sort of waterproofing inside?  Any suggestions for an easy to use non toxic substance, I will be doing it myself.

[Ian]

what about some cheap pond liner. It would probably need some holes along the bottom unless you're planning on growing bog plants.

[lizzie]

Thats a good idea @Ian everything I have seen on line is toxic tar paint (blackjack type stuff).  I really only need to line the sides the bottom is open to the ground and its the blocks I want to give some protection too..................no bog plants its hot as hades out there south facing.  Lavender or some other dry hot tolerant plant.

[newhome]

Not quite the same thing but since you mention heat tolerant ... It's never been heard of up in Scotland but we are now at the stage where it's almost a mini drought here. Like 8 weeks without any rainfall pretty much other than a little overnight on a couple of occasions and it's been unseasonably hot and sunny. I was wondering how to mitigate against the plants drying out in the planters without constantly watering them. The established plants in the main garden don't seem to suffer from this, or not yet at least. I read a few articles where it said that if the compost was mixed with the hydrogel contained in babies nappies it would 'store' water for a time and release it slowly as the rest of the soil dried out. Other articles said that the opposite happened as the hydrogel didn't like to give up its water so it had the opposite effect. So I did half the pots using hydrogel and half without. Will see what ones fare best lol. 

 

I bet @JSHarris already knows the answer to this 

Edited July 6, 2018 by newhome

[newhome]

PS. It's good to see you getting stuck into the 'making the house a home' jobs rather than having endless stress over the build completion. I imagine there are still some annoyances but hopefully the nicer aspects dominate now. 

 

[lizzie]

Good luck @newhome I tried it once in hanging baskets but didn't notice any real benefit.

 

Ive had a typical English garden and a tropical garden this one is going to be mediterranean...drought tolerant, wind tolerant and able to withstand baking sun which is more than can be said for me I am melting here!

[lizzie]

Just now, newhome said:

PS. It's good to see you getting stuck into the 'making the house a home' jobs rather than having endless stress over the build completion. I imagine there are still some annoyances but hopefully the nicer aspects dominate now. 

 

Thank you....yes still builders lurking - or disappearing without finishing jobs - but nicer aspects beginning to come in and I am going to enjoy them after the hell of the build. 

[newhome]

1 minute ago, lizzie said:

Good luck @newhome I tried it once in hanging baskets but didn't notice any real benefit.

 

Ive had a typical English garden and a tropical garden this one is going to be mediterranean...drought tolerant, wind tolerant and able to withstand baking sun which is more than can be said for me I am melting here!

 

Thanks. I just wanted a low maintenance able to withstand high winds in a coastal area garden. Never dreamt that I would need to add drought tolerant to the list as it's generally the excess rainfall we have to worry about here ...... 

 

Thankfully it's clouded over here a bit this afternoon. Never thought I would be happy to see cloudy skys! 

[Tennentslager]

There should be some visqueen scraps kicking around which would do the job.

Visqueen is thick plastic damp proofing seen everywhere on a build ?

[Russell griffiths]

You need to do this job really well with a liquid type dpm not plastic sheet as you will never join it neatly enough to be effective 

 

my  friend had exactly the same built and lined them badly, he has regretted it ever since, the render has started to spall the paint blisters it is a total mess

the damp is trying to travel from the inside and escape through the very porous blocks. 

 

Have you tried a product called synthaprufe. 

[lizzie]

3 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said:

You need to do this job really well with a liquid type dpm not plastic sheet as you will never join it neatly enough to be effective 

 

my  friend had exactly the same built and lined them badly, he has regretted it ever since, the render has started to spall the paint blisters it is a total mess

the damp is trying to travel from the inside and escape through the very porous blocks. 

 

Have you tried a product called synthaprufe. 

Never heard of it but will google right now....

[lizzie]

26 minutes ago, Tennentslager said:

There should be some visqueen scraps kicking around which would do the job.

Visqueen is thick plastic damp proofing seen everywhere on a build ?

If we had it it will have gone in the skip by now

[Jeremy Harris]

I lined the large planter that I've put some trees in with heavy duty DPM.  It seems to work pretty well.  I left it open at the bottom, with plenty of drainage.

[Stones]

I've just built a couple of timber planters.  I lined one with some EPDM roofing membrane (pond liner in effect) and the other with DPM I retrieved from the skip when the house was being built, large drainage holes at the bottom.  Both perfectly good for lining.

[Onoff]

3 hours ago, Stones said:

I've just built a couple of timber planters.  I lined one with some EPDM roofing membrane (pond liner in effect) and the other with DPM I retrieved from the skip when the house was being built, large drainage holes at the bottom.  Both perfectly good for lining.

 

As are rubble / aggregate bags!

[canalsiderenovation]

@lizzie what did you use? We are having ours rendered and we contacted the Ecorend as we didn't really want silicone render but they do a monocouche render to match the house. We asked the render company for advice and they said;

 

Planters are notoriously difficult. We would advise that these are tanked from behind with a waterproof membrane. This should reduce the moisture coming through from the soil/plats etc when they are back filled. I would also advise a coat of W2 Waterproof bonding coat to the front surface that is being rendered this again will help with any moisture from the back. Then apply a basecoat and leave with a keyed finish to receive the required topcoat of either Monocouche or SR15.

 

What waterproof membrane did you use? Anyone else got any other suggestions? Like @lizzie our planters are open to the ground below so we are planning on some gravel for drainage in the bottom of the planters.