Crownstone Group

Crownstone Group We deal with wherever you DON'T want water.

21/05/2026

Tell us waterproofing was left until the end of the project… without telling us it was left until the end of the project 🤦‍♂️

“We’ve got a small leak”

That’s usually how the conversation starts.

But water problems rarely start when the leak appears.

They usually started months or even years earlier, when waterproofing was treated as an afterthought.

Here’s what we see all the time when surveying buildings:

Millions spent on architecture, interiors, and finishes…

…but the waterproofing strategy gets discussed right at the VERY END of the design process.

Or worse:

It gets value engineered 🫠

The irony?

Waterproofing is one of the cheapest things to get right during design!

It’s also one of the most expensive things to fix after the building is finished.

By the time water is visible inside a building, the structure has already been quietly losing the battle for a while.

We spend most of our time doing one of two things:
1️⃣ Diagnosing why waterproofing systems have failed
2️⃣ Designing solutions that should have been considered from the start

Because once water gets in, you’re no longer waterproofing.

You’re doing damage control.

If you're involved in designing, managing or maintaining buildings, waterproofing shouldn’t be the final conversation.

It should be one of the first!

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We care about keeping your home warm and dry.

After all, 60% of your body is water - your building shouldn't be!

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19/05/2026

A shower in a room made for baths 🛀

Simple problem. Simple fix.

In this shower, the tiling only comes halfway up the wall.

Above that? Dot and dab plasterboard which is basically a sponge.

So when the water splashes off you, it’s soaking straight into the wall.

Then the heating comes on.
That moisture evaporates.
Then it settles on the coldest surfaces.

And the homeowner thinks they’ve “got a condensation problem.”

They haven’t.

They’ve got a tiling problem.

Tiling in showers should go high enough to deal with splash zones, not just where someone hopes the water will stop.

This is why diagnosis matters.

Water does what physics tells it to do - not what the installer intended.

If you’re refurbishing a bathroom, tile all the way to the top just to be safe!

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Crownstone - Dealing with wherever you don't want water.

Give us a call or drop us an email:
[email protected] | 020 8226 5654

Someone suggested we should “Google thermodynamics” 🙊Fair enough.Condensation is governed by temperature, moisture load ...
14/05/2026

Someone suggested we should “Google thermodynamics” 🙊

Fair enough.

Condensation is governed by temperature, moisture load and dew point.

Cold air at high relative humidity often contains less total moisture than warm indoor air at lower relative humidity.

When that colder air warms up inside, its relative humidity drops; allowing it to absorb internal moisture and reduce condensation risk.

Opening a window isn’t a long-term ventilation strategy.

But it is basic building physics.

The real problem is airtight buildings without adequate designed ventilation.

If we’re going to talk thermodynamics…

Let’s actually talk thermodynamics 👀

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- Dealing with wherever you don't want water.

[email protected] | 020 8226 5654

12/05/2026

Residential survey this week for condensation and mould throughout the property.

The first thing we did?

Started counting the air bricks.

6 in total.

And that’s just on two faces of the house.

There are more round the back 😱

Now, air bricks have their place. We're not anti-air brick.

But this? This is like trying to heat your house with all the windows open.

All those openings are stripping heat straight out of the building.

And here’s the bit most people miss:

When you remove the heat, you remove the air’s ability to hold moisture.

So all the steam from cooking, showering, breathing etc immediately turns back into water because the air isn’t warm enough to carry it.

It doesn’t stay as vapour.

It becomes liquid.

And that’s when you get:

- Persistent condensation
- Black mould
- Cold walls
( and very frustrated homeowners)

This wasn’t explicitly a damp problem.

It was a balance problem.

Ventilation isn’t about punching random holes in walls.

It’s about controlled airflow, consistent heat, and understanding how the building actually behaves.

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We're Crownstone and we deal with wherever you don't want water.

Follow us for more to learn how to keep your home dry and mould free!

07/05/2026

There’s no real “off switch” when you work in waterproofing 😂

Even on holiday, we find ourselves looking at rock faces and studying how water moves through cracks and defects.

In this case, a section had recently broken away, revealing a tiny network of channels behind the surface, almost like a natural drainage system.

It’s a good reminder of one of the most important principles in waterproofing:

Water will always find the path of least resistance.

Through soil.
Through brickwork.
Through failed details and our favourite; “that’ll do” workmanship 👀

We often talk about the geology beneath London and how groundwater behaves, but the same principle applies everywhere.

Understanding how water travels is the key to diagnosing defects properly and designing waterproofing systems that actually perform long term.

Most people probably don’t stop to think about things like this on holiday.

We do.

But then again… we are massive waterproofing nerds.



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We deal with wherever you don't want water.

Follow us for more!

🚿 Shut the BATHROOM door!Every time you shower with the bathroom door open, you’re not “airing it out.”You’re exporting ...
05/05/2026

🚿 Shut the BATHROOM door!

Every time you shower with the bathroom door open, you’re not “airing it out.”

You’re exporting moisture.

That warm steam doesn’t vanish.

It travels into cooler parts of the house...

It hits cold walls…

And that’s when mould, damp patches and peeling paint start appearing in rooms that aren't the bathroom.

The issue isn’t always rising damp like some would have you believe

It’s moisture management 💦

Here’s what you should be doing instead:

✅ Shut the door while showering
✅ Make sure your extractor fan actually works
✅ Leave it running 10–20 minutes after your shower
✅ Extract the moisture outside don’t redistribute it around the house

Small habits. Big difference.

If condensation keeps coming back year after year, it’s not bad luck - it’s poor ventilation strategy!

Come on, be honest…

Who still leaves the bathroom door open to “let it air out”? 👀



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Crownstone - Dealing with wherever you don't want water.

Get in touch today if you need our help!

[email protected] | 020 8226 5654

We’re hiring.We’re looking for someone who can keep the wheels turning when things get busy!At Crownstone, we deal with ...
01/05/2026

We’re hiring.

We’re looking for someone who can keep the wheels turning when things get busy!

At Crownstone, we deal with some of the most misunderstood (and often badly handled) areas in construction - waterproofing, damp, and building pathology.

Which means behind every successful project, there’s a team keeping things running properly.

And that’s where you come in.

We’re looking for an Office Administrator who:
- Keeps things organised
- Communicates clearly with clients and the team
- Takes pride in doing things properly
- Wants to be part of a company that’s raising standards in the industry

If you’re someone who enjoys structure, responsibility, and being part of a tight-knit, growing business then we’d really like to hear from you!

👉 Full job description here: https://lnkd.in/eNxXTenw

30/04/2026

All of these colours you’re seeing on this map?

They’re not just pretty patterns.

They represent different soil types beneath our buildings in London and the surrounding areas.. and that matters more than most people realise.

Water behaves very differently depending on the soil it’s moving through.

Some soils let it pass straight by.

Others hold onto it and keep it parked right next to your foundations.

That behaviour tells us the risk level:
👉 Where water is likely to build up
👉 Where pressure will increase
👉 And where your basement is most vulnerable

Good waterproofing design doesn’t start with a snazzy product.

It starts with understanding the site and the water risk around it 🤔

Get that wrong, and you’re guessing.
Get it right, and you’re designing with intent.

Map courtesy of British Geological Survey 🗺️



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Crownstone - Dealing with wherever you don't want water

Drop us an email or give us a call if you've got water where it shouldn't be:

[email protected] | 020 8226 5654

28/04/2026

“Why is water leaking in above my window?”

Good question. And a really common one.

When a window is installed right on the outer face of the brickwork, rainwater runs straight down the wall.

Instead of dropping off, it tracks back across the top of the frame and finds the weakest point - the joint between the window and the masonry.

That joint was never designed to act like a gutter.

The fix?

Incredibly simple 👇
Install a drip profile above the window.

It’s just a small plastic section, sealed to the brickwork, that forces water to drip away from the window instead of running back into the construction joint.

No magic products.
No ripping windows out.
Just basic water management.

Most water ingress issues aren’t complex…
They’re just poorly thought through.



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Crownstone - Dealing with wherever you don't want water.

[email protected] | 020 8226 5654

23/04/2026

“Breathable” sealant is one of the most misunderstood terms in construction.

People hear breathable and assume it somehow lets rain straight through.

It doesn’t.

If it does… you’ve bought a rubbish quality one!

Here’s what’s actually happening 👇

Water in a wall needs to evaporate, and it does that in two main ways:
• Heat
• Air movement (wind)

A good quality breathable sealant works by reducing the pore size of the façade.

Rain droplets are too big to get in.

Water vapour particles are tiny enough to get out.

So no matter how much rain hits the building, liquid water can’t pass through the barrier.

But moisture inside the wall can still migrate to the surface and evaporate, even without sun - simply by wind moving across it.

As moisture escapes, pressure drops.
More moisture moves forward.
The process repeats.

That’s how walls dry properly.

If rain is getting through your “breathable” sealant, the problem isn’t the concept…

It’s the quality 👀



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Crownstone - Dealing with wherever you don't want water.

If you've got issues with your breathable sealants, give us a call: 020 8226 5654

21/04/2026

🚨 Probably the worst waterproofing install we’ve ever seen...

We might laugh now - but trust us, the client wasn't laughing.

Brick ➡️ render ➡️ bonding plaster ➡️ three-part waterproofing system ➡️ battens screwed through all of it ➡️ waterproof membrane stuck on the battens ➡️ plasterboard finish.

This is SO wrong!

Thanks to whoever did it, though…

It’s an absolute goldmine for social media and training examples.



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Crownstone - Dealing with wherever you don't want water.

Contact us today 💧
[email protected] | 020 8226 5654

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