COMMERCIAL
WATERPROOFING
IN AUSTIN, TX.
The Atlas 14 update raised Austin's one-percent-annual-chance, 24-hour design storm, and since 2019 the city has based its floodplain regulations on the FEMA 500-year floodplain. Between the two sit most of the city's commercial envelopes: a wall detailed for an older rainfall assumption, draining onto decks and site work that now answer to a wider boundary. Waterproofing here is judged by where the water goes from parapet to discharge point, which is why a scope starts with the path and not with a product.
What Commercial Waterproofing Includes
An Austin scope covers the wall, the horizontal surfaces it drains onto, and the below-grade line under both, sized to the rainfall the city designs for today rather than the storm the building was detailed around.
Elastomeric Coating Systems
Spray- and roll-applied elastomeric coatings bridge hairline cracking across concrete, CMU, masonry, and stucco while holding a continuous barrier between joints. Substrate repair, crack treatment, film thickness, permeability, and adhesion testing are settled before the first coat, because a coating run over an unsound or saturated wall seals the problem in behind it.
Austin's Energy Conservation Audit and Disclosure ordinance phased energy-rating requirements across commercial buildings of at least 10,000 square feet, beginning with those of at least 75,000 square feet. On a property that already carries a rating, the air and water findings behind it usually point at the two or three elevations worth opening first, which keeps the investigation ahead of a recoat short and targeted.
Membrane Waterproofing
Fluid-applied, hot-applied rubberized asphalt, and sheet membranes protect foundation walls, elevator pits, plaza decks, planters, and the occupied space underneath them. Most of the work is at the edges, where drains, curbs, penetrations, terminations, and traffic-bearing transitions decide whether the field of the membrane is ever tested at all.
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport's planned Yellow Garage is expected to provide about 7,000 parking spaces at full completion in 2027, with the first 3,000 anticipated in 2026. A deck that size is only as good as its joints, drains, and traffic coating on a maintenance schedule, and the same holds for an aging plaza deck sitting over occupied space. We detail replacement membrane for the way it will be serviced in year 12, not only for the week it goes down.
Sealant & Joint Replacement
Expansion joints, glazing perimeters, mechanical penetrations, and parapet transitions are replaced as complete runs rather than patched one failure at a time. Joint geometry, substrate preparation, backer selection, movement range, and continuity with the adjacent membrane are documented before the first run is cut out.
Austin's building technical codes in force since July 10, 2025 include the 2024 International Building, Existing Building, Energy Conservation, and Property Maintenance codes with local amendments. That set draws a line a joint scope has to respect, between in-kind maintenance and permitted alteration, so we mark which runs fall on which side and hand the owner's engineer a document that says so.
Penetrating Masonry Sealers
Penetrating water repellents cut absorption through porous masonry without leaving a surface film that holds moisture behind it. Cleaning, repointing, crack repair, absorption testing, and the transition into adjacent sealant joints are resolved before a repellent goes onto a full elevation.
The state's own landmark masonry argues for testing first. The Texas Capitol holds 188,518 cubic feet of Texas Sunset Red Granite, adopted after the limestone originally selected began to discolor. A substrate decision settled that building's appearance for good, and a repellent that darkens or blotches one stone on a mixed wall is just as permanent. We run absorption and appearance mockups on each substrate and each exposure, then price the repellent by what the mockups did rather than by the square footage of the elevation.
Industries We Serve in Austin
Atlas 14 Reset Austin's Design Storm, and Drainage Paths Have to Carry It
The Atlas 14 rainfall data raised Austin's one-percent-annual-chance, 24-hour design storm from 10.2 inches to nearly 13 inches. Roof drains, overflow scuppers, deck slopes, and wall terminations on a building from an earlier code cycle were detailed against the smaller figure, and none of that announces itself until a long rain finds the weakest termination. Before a membrane or a coating enters a capital budget, the drain capacity, the overflow route, and the terminations feeding them should be measured against the figure the city designs to today.
Then there is the wall the water crosses on the way down. The University of Texas Tower, finished in 1937, carries Indiana limestone, Austin shell stone at its entrances, and reused Austin brick on one envelope, and a good deal of the city's older commercial masonry is mixed the same way behind later paint or cladding. Absorption, drying rate, and movement differ at every one of those interfaces, so a repellent or sealant chosen for the elevation as a whole will be wrong somewhere on it. Map the substrate changes during the assessment and price treatment by substrate, before a unit rate per square foot of wall is agreed to.
Where the water finally goes is a regulated question. Austin has based its floodplain regulations on the FEMA 500-year floodplain since 2019, so a parcel near mapped risk carries a boundary that governs below-grade walls, openings at grade, elevator pits, and any change to the discharge path. Establishing that boundary early costs a phone call; discovering it after quantities are set costs a redesign. On a building where the envelope and the site both need work, the boundary is what tells a property team which repairs can proceed as maintenance and which belong in a designed package.
A deck or parapet that never backed up under the older assumption can still overflow under this one, and overflow is where many envelope leaks begin
Austin has regulated to the FEMA 500-year floodplain since 2019, and the applicable boundary decides how below-grade and opening repairs are sequenced
Larger Austin properties already generate performance records, and those records usually name the elevations worth testing before a coating or sealant scope is priced
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Commercial Waterproofing FAQ — Austin, TX
What does a commercial waterproofing scope cover on an Austin building?
It covers every point where water can enter and every route it takes once it has: below-grade walls, elevator pits, podium and plaza decks, wall coatings, expansion joints, and penetrations. The Atlas 14 update raised Austin's one-percent-annual-chance, 24-hour design storm from 10.2 inches to nearly 13 inches, and that increase shows up first at drains and terminations sized under the older assumption. Griffin traces the water path before proposing a product, records substrate and movement conditions, and separates active leaks and safety items from planned work. Every line in the written scope carries the testing, protection, and close-out it needs, so the owner can price the building one item at a time.
Does Austin's mapped floodplain change how a waterproofing repair is planned?
The mapping changes the sequence more than the materials. Austin has based its floodplain regulations on the FEMA 500-year floodplain since 2019, following the Atlas 14 rainfall update, so the first question on a parcel near mapped risk is which boundary applies to it. That answer governs below-grade work, openings at grade, and any change to the discharge path. Griffin compares the applicable boundary against the distress the building is actually showing, then tests representative assemblies while the quantities are still open. Settling the regulatory path at that stage is considerably cheaper than settling it after a submittal comes back marked up.
Can waterproofing be phased around an occupied Austin building?
Yes, and some of the longest exterior programs in the city are run exactly that way. The University of Texas began work on its Tower exterior in November 2024 with completion planned for summer 2027, and nothing that long runs on a closed campus, so the question is always which zones open when. We divide a commercial scope on the same principle, by level, elevation, entrance, or tenant zone, and we set pedestrian protection, equipment placement, noisy operations, and temporary closures against the facility calendar before mobilization. The phasing plan names each work zone, what it takes out of service, and what has to finish before the next zone opens.
How do you choose between a coating, a membrane, and a penetrating repellent?
The substrate decides, and on older Austin buildings it can change across a single elevation. The University of Texas Tower, finished in 1937, carries Indiana limestone, Austin shell stone at its entrances, and reused Austin brick on one envelope, and mixed walls of that kind sit behind later paint and cladding all over the city. We test absorption, adhesion, and appearance on each substrate and exposure, check what earlier treatments left in the pores, and then match the system to the condition: elastomeric coating where cracking dominates, membrane where water stands or pushes, penetrating repellent where a porous masonry wall still has to breathe. A product recommendation that does not name the substrate it is for, and the preparation that substrate needs first, is not finished.
What does the property team receive when the assessment is finished?
A written scope with photographs keyed to locations, repairs ranked by urgency, quantities where field access allowed them, and notes on materials, testing, access, phasing, and close-out. It also flags where a below-grade or opening repair could be packaged with a flood-safety improvement, since Austin's commercial redevelopment rules have allowed qualifying changes that make an existing building safer from flooding since September 1, 2022. Owners, engineers, and general contractors work from the same document, which is what makes competing bids comparable line for line.
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Related Services
Commercial waterproofing in Austin usually shares access, closures, and mobilization with these services.
Commercial Facade Restoration
Masonry, panel, and glazing-perimeter repairs have to be finished before a coating or membrane can be relied on to hold. When water testing in Austin traces the entry point into the wall itself, the facade work leads and the waterproofing follows it.
Review this service →Parking Garage Repair
Deck joints, drains, and traffic coatings are the horizontal half of the same water path, and on most Austin sites they share a discharge point with the building. Carrying both in one scope means paying once for access, closures, and protection.
Explore this service →Exterior Building Repair
Concrete and masonry repairs return the substrate to a condition a membrane or coating can bond to. Scoping them alongside the waterproofing keeps it to one mobilization to Austin instead of two.
Learn more →Protect Your Austin Property
We mobilize to Austin for commercial waterproofing on plaza and podium decks, below-grade walls, parking structures like the ones going up at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, and masonry walls never tested for absorption. Griffin Restoration Inc. leaves a written scope an owner can put out for bid.