Waterproof Your Deck - Using a Surface Mounted Post Anchor
So you want to waterproof your deck and you are using post anchors that attach to the surface of your deck? No problem.
It's a question many visitors have been asking me about since the Titan Post Anchor was introduced.
Typically, homeowners or builders want to attach surface mounted wood posts to rooftop decks or decks where that cover a living area, patio or storage area below and they don't want any leaking.
The First Simple Solutions
The simplest solution has been just to partially pre-drill the lag bolt holes through the deck surface and fill them up with a durable roofing cement of patch compound and then screw the bolts deep into the subsurface.
As a true waterproofing solution, that method seemed a bit of a crude solution. And not being a roofing expert I don't think I would want to say that is the best long term way to waterproof the anchor to deck connection.
So I came up with what I think is the final solution to water proof your deck - one which I am willing to say is one of the best ways I can think of how to really seal the penetration points for the long term.
A Better Way to Seal Off Water Penetration
Here is the Titan Post Anchor water proof seal solution:
Use our custom sized adhesive backed Rubber Gasket strips and spacers. The spacers fit underneath the anchor base and on top of the gasket to apply pressure to both surfaces. It seems to do the trick perfectly.
Step 1
Use our peel and stick rubber gasket strips and stick them to the deck surface as shown here.
Four separate strips of material are laid out corner to corner and replicate the perimeter of the anchor base.
They are designed to fit nicely under the shape of the base.
Step 2
Place the plastic tube spacers underneath each hole of the anchor base. These are high quality spacers that are designed to accept the lag bolt and are perfectly sized to fit underneath the base of the post anchor.
When screwed down with full force the apply perfect constant pressure around the bolt and the penetration hole into the deck.
Step 3
Screw your fasteners through the center of the tube, piercing the gasket and penetrating the deck surface.
Tighten the bolts as usual which compresses the gasket all around the circumference of each tube and the fastener and penetration point as well as the outer walls of the base.
You're looking at this anchor attached to a glass bottom so you can see exactly how the gaskets work.
Step 4
As the screws are secured, you can see the pressure points and lines around the perimeter of the base and around each screw hole as the spacer tubes direct pressure to ensure a tight leak proof seal for each fastener.
And now take a look close up of how the spacer tubes act to direct pressure around each screw to create a seal.
Step 5
The ultimate test is to submerge this entire set up under water. To make the point I filled this display unit with water about 1/2" deep so that the anchor was completely covered in water.
In real life this would likely never happen unless you had something blocking or preventing draining from your deck. But even so this shows that you can rest easy.
A Crazy Test To Prove The Point
After 1 week, still no leaking. Notice that even though water soaked under the outer edges of the adhesive film on the rubber gasket, it still didn't get in around all the pressure points of the anchor base and the screw tubes.
So if you are using a surface mounted post and you want to waterproof your deck you will need to get a waterproof seal. And this is the way to go. At least it's my recommendation. You can order gasket kits with your purchase of the Titan Post Anchor.