NHBC Guidelines for tiling shower areas and bathroom pods

Have you heard about the new NHBC guidelines: regarding substrates for tiling bath and shower enclosures, wetrooms and bathroom pods? This article will cover the changes to the guidelines – which areas they apply to, when they come into effect, the issues arising in waterproofing design that have led to these amendments. We’ll also link the full NHBC Guidelines for you to take a closer look!

Who will the NHBC guidelines apply to and how will this impact design and application?

This guidance comes into effect for every NHBC registered home whose foundations are begun on or after 1st July 2024 including the use of offsite manufactured bathroom pods. After the 1^st July 2024 deadline, all rooms covered within document HB3109 12/23 are required to be tanked with a waterproofing process that conforms to EAD 030352-00-0503 for liquid applied waterproofing.

This DIBt report will take you to the DIBT (Deutsches Institut fur Bautechnic) website, they carry out CE, EAD and ETA assessments and testing. You will see that the Koster Aquatecnic’s Aquaproof system has been tested against the above EAD and has an ETA (European Technical Approval).  Koster Aquatecnic are the only manufacturer in the UK to have this approval, which will soon be necessary on all NHBC projects involving showers and bathroom pods.

Why have the NHBC guidelines been amended? 

The NHBC has seen a rise in claims relating to the walls surrounding baths, shower enclosures and bathroom pods – often resulting from insufficient waterproofing of these areas. The purpose of this Technical Guidance Note is to clarify NHBC’s position on appropriate substrates for tiling in domestic bath and shower enclosures, wet rooms and bathroom pods.

You can find the full guidelines here on their website – NHBC Guidelines HB3109 12/23

You can find more information about the Aquaproof System on this website or on NBS Source.