Course Content
By the end of this course, you will be able to read a concrete balcony, roof or podium against the Code before you open a tin: the 1:80 fall in the structural substrate, the 70 mm step-down, the 70 mm monolithic hob, the overflow invert 20 mm below the internal floor, and the exposed joints sitting on the high points and never under a planter. You will provide for water to leave twice, at the surface and at membrane level, because the bed that cannot drain is what presses water against a sound membrane’s terminations. The places external work actually fails get detailed rather than sealed: the upstand and its termination, the level threshold, the pipe, the balustrade post, the movement joint and the change of plane, each with the bond breaker and reinforcement that let the membrane flex instead of splitting. Protection goes down the moment the flood test passes, and the screed, drained bed or pedestal finish over it is built as a system that drains. Where planters, roof gardens and below-ground walls leave AS 4654 behind, you will recognise it, ask for the design in writing, and keep the record that puts a structural repair where it belongs.
Learning Outcomes
This ensures that CPD efforts align with professional regulatory requirements.
This CPD provides general guidance on professional responsibilities and documentation practices. It does not constitute legal advice or replace project-specific contractual or statutory obligations.
Compliance and Accreditation
| Framework/Body | Relevant Sections | Focus Areas |
| AS 4654.1:2012 and AS 4654.2:2012 Waterproofing membranes for external above-ground use (Standards Australia) | The editions in the NCC 2025 referenced documents table (and NCC 2022). Part 1 materials; Part 2 design and installation: falls and drainage, upstands and termination heights, protection of exposed joints (Section 2.9, called up by NCC F1D6), penetrations, laps, protection of the membrane before following work, drainage layers. Termination heights and laps are described in the script without figures and flagged for confirmation | Primary technical framework for the membrane and its installation on roofs, balconies, podiums and planters; scope is external above-ground use, so below-ground tanking is outside it (Module 4) |
| NCC 2025 Volume One Part F1 Surface water management, rising damp and external waterproofing (Class 2 to 9; introduced in NCC 2022, retained in NCC 2025) | F1D2 application (exclusions for decking, ground level and window hoods); F1D3 stormwater to AS/NZS 3500.3; F1D4 drainage and overflow provision, substrate fall 1:80, 70 mm step-down, 70 mm monolithic hob, overflow invert 20 mm below the internal floor substrate, topping counts as substrate only inside a planter; F1D5 concrete substrate to AS 3600, prepared for the membrane; F1D6 exposed joints at the high point, protected to AS 4654.2 Section 2.9, never under a planter or water feature; F1D7 membranes to AS 4654.1 installed to AS 4654.2 directly on the structural substrate; F1D10 surface finishes self-draining or directly fixed; F1D8 and F1D9 damp-proof courses (AS/NZS 2904, AS 3660.1) and vapour barriers (AS 2870) | Every dimension in Modules 1 to 3 is read from these clauses (verified on the NCC 2025 text on 17 September 2026); the setout inspection against Part F1 that the course makes the installer’s first act |
| NCC 2025 Volume Two H2D8 External waterproofing (Class 1 and 10) | AS 4654.1 and 4654.2 for external waterproofing of flat roofs, roof terraces, balconies and terraces over internal spaces; exceptions for a concrete slab stepped down at least 50 mm, a suspended slab over an unused subfloor stepped down 50 mm, and spaced decking | The house-scale version of the step-down rule (slide 5) |
| National Construction Code adoption by jurisdiction (as at 17 September 2026) | VIC, WA and ACT on NCC 2025 from 1 May 2026 (transition windows in WA and ACT); NSW, QLD, TAS and the SA building code on NCC 2022 until 1 May 2027; NT not adopting. Part F1 and H2D8 are the same in both editions | Regulatory note only; no slide depends on the edition |
| AS/NZS 3500.3 Stormwater drainage; AS 3600 Concrete structures | Called up by F1D3 and F1D5: the drainage system and overflow the deck falls to, and the concrete substrate the membrane is bonded to | The designer’s standards the installer inspects against, not installs to |
| NSW Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (Class 2 buildings) | Waterproofing is a building element; regulated designs by registered design practitioners, design and building compliance declarations lodged on the NSW Planning Portal; statutory duty of care (Part 4) extending to anyone who carries out construction work | Module 4 slides 33 and 34: the installer installs to a declared design and asks for it in writing before starting; qualified to NSW and Class 2 in the script |
| State licensing and statutory warranties (NSW Fair Trading and Building Commission NSW waterproofing licence; QBCC Waterproofing licence class; VBA registration; other state builder registration regimes; Home Building Act 1989 NSW and equivalent domestic building legislation) | Waterproofing as a licensed trade in NSW and QLD; warranty periods running for years after completion; external and below-ground failures as structural repairs; sign only for the installation, to the design given, on the substrate inspected | The exposure that makes the record matter (slides 33, 38); stated as general education, not legal or insurance advice |
| NSCA 2021 (Architects, secondary website audience) | PC12, PC37, PC45, PC55, PC56 | PC12: how NCC Part F1 and AS 4654 apply to external decks. PC37: documenting falls, step-downs, hobs, overflows, joints, thresholds and outlets so an installer can inspect against them. PC45: selecting membrane, protection and finish systems on performance evidence. PC55 and PC56: document control of the regulated design and approval of substitutions and late penetrations during construction |
This session is designed for
Licensed Waterproofers and Membrane Applicators
Licensed Builders and Site Supervisors
Tilers, Pavers and Landscape Contractors
Building Surveyors and Certifiers
Architects and Building Designers
What’s Included
This course examines the parts of an external waterproofing job where a failure is a structural repair rather than a callback: the setout, the edges, the penetrations and the build-up over the membrane, rather than the open field. Falls, step-downs, hobs, overflow inverts, exposed joints and the structural substrate are taken from NCC 2025 Volume One Part F1 and Volume Two H2D8, which call up AS 4654.1 and AS 4654.2 for external above-ground work, so they become figures you measure with a level and a tape and refuse in writing. The second drainage path at membrane level is treated as the thing that decides whether a flood-tested deck stays dry once a bed, screed or pedestal paving sits on it. Terminations, balustrade fixings, corners and movement joints are detailed to bond breakers and reinforcement rather than sealant. Planters, roof gardens and below-ground walls are set out as the point where the standard stops and an engineered or immersion-rated design has to arrive before anyone installs. Two case studies, a balcony that passed its test and failed the building and a basement wall that leaked from two directions, show what the record is worth when the repair bill is structural.
Why Take This CPD Session?
Learn to read a slab, a threshold and a joint layout against the NCC figures before you price, and put what fails in writing while the levels above are still to be poured.
Understand why water at membrane level, not water on the tiles, is what tests your terminations, and build the flanged outlet, weep and drained bed that let it leave.
Know exactly where AS 4654 stops, so planters, roof gardens and basement walls get an immersion or tanking design from the engineer rather than a deck membrane and hope.
Professional development is an investment in career growth and regulatory compliance. Take the next step today.
