Construction solutions and a substrate the membrane can trust

A membrane is only as good as what it sits on. Before any waterproofing is applied, GVK sets requirements for the construction and the finished substrate — because the most careful membrane will still fail over a base that moves, flexes or holds damp.

Approved construction solutions

GVK covers the common wet-room build-ups and how each must be executed:

• Timber-joist floor constructions — the framing and decking detailed so the floor is stiff enough not to flex and crack the membrane.
• Board floor materials — only suitable, approved boards, fixed as specified.
• Floor heating — installed so it doesn't compromise the membrane or the substrate above it.
• Board wall constructions — approved wet-room boards on studs, fixed and supported correctly.

Each solution exists because a wet room built on the wrong base is a failure waiting to surface.

A finished substrate ready for the membrane

Separately, GVK requires a proper finished substrate for both floor and wall before the tätskikt goes on. In practice that means a base that is:

• sound and stable, with no movement that could crack the seal;
• flat, so the membrane and tiles sit true and the fall runs correctly;
• dry and clean, ready for the specific membrane system's adhesion.

Why the base is non-negotiable

Skip this and the failure is invisible until it isn't: a flexing floor cracks a liquid membrane; a damp or dusty base stops a foil bonding; an uneven substrate ruins the fall to the drain. Getting the base right is the cheapest insurance in the whole build.

What M5 brings to Dubai

We prepare the construction and substrate to the standard first — stiff, flat, dry and matched to the chosen system — so the waterproofing has something it can actually hold to. It's the unseen groundwork that makes everything above it last.

Official source: this is M5's plain-language summary, not the official text. For the full rules see GVK — gvk.se.