Dryflex field test

[Toepopper]

I went ahead and purchased 2- 5 gallon buckets of Dryflex waterproofing material to use on a couple of waterproofing projects here at my house. The first one was to apply this product to the cement cap that is on top of my chimney. The cap was cracked and rainwater was seeping down the inside of the masonry chimney walls. This is a 2' x 6' long chimney with 3 terra cotta flue pipes protruding out the top of the cap. There is a brick drip ledge running around the perimeter of the chimney top and these bricks were cracked and some were broken off from the freez thaw cycle between rain and snow storms. The Dryflex material is a high percentage acrylic co-polymer which is mixed with portland cement. It is white in color before adding cement. To mix, pour half of the 5 gallon bucket of material into an empty bucket, add one quarter sack of portland cement and mix with a twister mixing paddle powered by a 1/2" drill motor. Mix until all the cement has been mixed into the Dryflex and a smooth plaster like consistency appears. I applied this mix to the block, broken brick and cement cap with a plasterers hawk and trowel and embedded some fiber mesh to help hold everything together once the material sets. Application must be done quickly because the dry masonry substrate accelerates the drying time. This material cannot be re-troweled to make a smooth surface because it forms a skin and when you try to smooth it out the trowel pulls the material and makes a rough surface, so this is a one chance operation. After approx an hour the material had hardened enough to trim the drip edge with a box cutter knife where the mesh was overhanging. Twenty four hours later this material was completely set up and would withstand a severe rainstorm. I would recomend this product for below grade waterproofing of block or concrete walls. The only drawback is that the stuff is expensive at $155. per pail !! One pail will cover about 130 sq. feet if you don't drop any on the ground while plastering.