The job
Waterproofing preparation on an apartment tower in Coolangatta, on the southern Gold Coast, looking straight down onto the beach. Frank Cole Waterproofing was re-waterproofing two areas of the building: the main rooftop, with its parapets, walkways and plant, and a strip along the base of the building at ground level where the garden and paved path meet the wall.
Frank Cole brought in Perfect Concrete Care to do the preparation, so their crew could go straight onto clean, sound concrete. Our Queensland crew worked the roof and the ground floor over about two weeks in August 2026, and came back later in the month for core drilling.
What the waterproofing preparation involved
- Grinding the old membrane and residue off the rooftop deck with a floor grinder on dust extraction
- Hand grinding the parapet walls and upturns, the walkways around the exhaust fans and the slab under the ductwork and plant frames
- At ground level, cutting back the turf and digging a trench by hand along the wall base, with the soil bucketed out
- Lifting the pavers along the path with breakers and stripping it back to slab
- Grinding the slab edge and wall base, then pressure washing ready for the waterproofer
- Core drilling through the slab and soffit where the new work needed penetrations
What made it hard
The roof is an exposed tower top above the beach, broken up by parapets, fans, ductwork and plant frames. The floor grinder could only do the open deck, so a lot of the roof, including every upturn, was hand ground.
The ground floor work was right beside people's apartments and garden. The digging was done by hand and the soil went out in buckets, so there was no machine digging next to the building and the garden was left tidy.
Two very different areas on one job meant moving plant between the roof and the ground floor and running two kinds of work at once on the busiest days.
How it was done
The roof came first. The crew ground the open deck with the floor grinder and extractor, then went round every parapet, upturn, walkway and plant base with hand grinders until the whole roof was back to concrete.
At ground level the turf was cut back, the trench dug along the wall and the pavers lifted with breakers. The slab and wall base were then ground and the whole strip pressure washed. The coring was done once the positions were set out.
Outcome
The rooftop deck, parapets and plant areas, and the ground floor slab edge and wall base, were handed to Frank Cole Waterproofing ground back and clean in August 2026, ready for their new system.
Lessons learned on this job
Every job teaches the crew something. These are the ones we took from Coolangatta.
What worked
- Floor grinder on the open roof and hand grinders on every edge, all on extraction
- Digging by hand and bucketing the soil out, so nothing heavy worked next to the building
- Pressure washing at the end so the waterproofer started on a clean surface
What was difficult
- An exposed rooftop crowded with parapets, fans and ductwork
- Working right beside apartments and a garden at ground level
- Running roof work and ground floor work on the same job
If you have something similar
Waterproofers and remedial builders on the Gold Coast need the old membrane off and the concrete prepared before they can start. Have a look at our waterproofing membrane removal Gold Coast, concrete grinding Gold Coast and core drilling Gold Coast pages, see other rooftop jobs at The Oasis, Broadbeach and a Broadbeach high rise, or get in touch.
Need this done on your building?
Perfect Concrete Care acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Traditional Custodians of the country on which we live and work. We pay our respects to the Traditional Custodians and Elders past, present and future, and honour their connection to the land and ongoing contribution to society.