Start with the basis for using bentonite: take the groundwater level and the soil and groundwater chemistry from the geotechnical report, and confirm that the project records why bentonite is acceptable wherever a hydrostatic condition exists, since the opening note of the issued Section 07 17 00 offers it as an alternative to a multi-ply membrane and then sends hydrostatic walls and floors without groundwater control to one. Then confirm that the drawings show the extent, construction joints, and through-wall openings the drawing note requires, and that the liner choice, footing and under-slab laps, joint treatments, packed penetrations, terminations, drain board, backfill, and warranty agree with the details and the related sections.
Assemble the review package
Gather the foundation and slab plans with the waterproofing extents, the wall sections and the footing, slab edge, pile cap, grade beam, elevator pit, and sump details, the structural drawings with construction, control, and expansion joints and their waterstops, the pipe, conduit, and duct bank penetration details and the plumbing, electrical, and fire protection drawings that place them, the excavation support and lagging drawings where the membrane goes against a bulkhead before the wall is cast, the foundation drainage and subdrainage plans with any drain board, the geotechnical report with the design groundwater level, the hydrostatic assumption, and soil and groundwater chemistry, the dewatering and backfill requirements, the manufacturer’s details, and the issued Section 07 17 00 with Sections 03 30 00, 31 00 00, 33 46 16, and any of 07 11 13, 07 12 00, 07 13 53, and 07 14 00 the project also issues. Follow one wall from the under-slab membrane at its footing to the top edge of the membrane, and one pipe sleeve through it, before assuming the others match.
WBDG publishes UFGS 07 17 00: Bentonite Waterproofing as a public guide-specification reference (accessed November 9, 2026). Use your project’s issued specification and amendments for the actual comparison; the guide specification does not automatically govern your project. The checklist below is an original suggested review workflow, not a reproduction of the UFGS requirements.
Eight checks to run against the issued set
Use one record per location or system. The CSV contains the same eight prompts plus fields for source revisions, observed evidence, the review owner, the decision, and closure references.
| Check | Sources to compare | Question to resolve |
|---|---|---|
| Where bentonite applies and the hydrostatic basis | Opening hydrostatic note (bentonite as an alternative to the multi-ply membrane of Section 07 12 00 where local practice or the IBC dampproofing and waterproofing section allows; walls and floors with a hydrostatic condition and no groundwater control sent to a multi-ply membrane “as specified in Section 07 13 53”) + Section 07 13 53 and Section 07 12 00 scope notes + geotechnical report + foundation plan and wall sections | Where the geotechnical report shows a hydrostatic condition and the design has no groundwater control system, has the designer recorded why bentonite is acceptable, through local practice and experience or the building official’s acceptance, since the opening note offers bentonite as an alternative to a multi-ply membrane and then sends walls and floors in that condition to a multi-ply membrane, which its first paragraph places in Section 07 12 00 and its second in Section 07 13 53 Elastomeric Sheet Waterproofing, and where the design does rely on a groundwater control system, do the drawings show it? |
| Extent, construction joints, and through-wall openings | Opening drawing note (location and extent; construction joints; pipe, conduit, or similar through-wall openings) + Application note (shown on the drawings whichever option is chosen) + Application bracket (below-grade masonry or concrete walls, wall footings, under slabs, pile caps, grade beams, footings, elevator pits, against bulkhead walls, where indicated) + foundation and slab plans, wall sections, and structural drawings | Do the plans and sections show the extent of bentonite on every wall, footing, slab, pile cap, grade beam, and pit the Application bracket keeps, with the bracket edited to the elements the drawings actually show, are the construction joints and every pipe, conduit, or similar opening through the waterproofed walls located, as both notes require, and is the boundary drawn where bentonite meets dampproofing or another waterproofing system, so no surface is claimed by two sections or by none? |
| Liner, seam tape, and soil and groundwater chemistry | Bentonite Membrane note and bracket (polymeric sheet liner on one side where soil testing requires it) + Seam Tape note (only with the lined membrane) + Backfill article (no salt or other material that could keep the bentonite from hydrating) + Sodium Bentonite Properties + geotechnical report (soil and groundwater testing, salinity, contaminants) + manufacturer’s data | Does the geotechnical report or a soil test address the salinity and contaminants of the soil and groundwater against the waterproofed walls and slabs, is the liner bracket kept or deleted to follow that testing, as the note directs, is Seam Tape kept only with the lined membrane, as its own note says, and where the site is near salt or brackish water, fuel storage, or contaminated fill, has the manufacturer confirmed that the product suits those conditions before the liner choice is settled? |
| Footings, under-slab laps, pits, and substrates | Application bracket (cover the entire footing and overlap the under-slab membrane; bentonite mastic cant at the footing-to-wall intersection; continuous layer with lapped and staggered joints; washer-headed fasteners) + Surface Preparation article (form tie removal, patching, mortar drying) + footing, slab edge, pile cap, grade beam, elevator pit, and sump details + excavation support and lagging drawings | Does each footing and slab edge detail show the wall membrane covering the footing and lapping the under-slab membrane, as the kept bracket requires, with the mastic cant at the footing-to-wall intersection, does the slab plan carry the membrane around pile caps, grade beams, pits, and sumps, and since Surface Preparation addresses only formed concrete and mortar surfaces while the Application article also places the membrane under slabs and against bulkhead walls, do the drawings or another issued section define the mud slab, subgrade, or lagging it goes on and how it is held there before the concrete is cast? |
| Construction, control, and expansion joints and waterstops | Opening drawing note (construction joints shown) + Application note (expansion joints need added detailing; their watertightness is the designer’s responsibility) + Application article (“Install specified control joint treatments” before the membrane; membrane over control joints by the manufacturer’s instructions) + Bentonite Tubes article + Section 03 30 00 Waterstop Installation and Hydrophilic Waterstop + structural joint layout | Since the drawing note asks for the construction joints to be shown but PART 3 addresses only control joints, refers to “specified control joint treatments” that no article of the section specifies, and lists bentonite tubes as a product without saying where they go, do the structural drawings and Section 03 30 00 give every construction and control joint through the waterproofed walls and slabs a waterstop or other treatment, has the specifier said where the tubes are used or deleted them, and is each expansion joint detailed, as the Application note makes the designer responsible for? |
| Penetrations, terminations, drain board, and drains | Application article (through-wall openings and penetrations packed with bentonite mastic, granular bentonite, or both before the membrane; mastic around penetrations) + PART 3 note (add termination bar for horizontal and vertical terminations, composite drain board, and drainage piping, with their installation) + Section 33 46 16 Subdrainage Piping + wall sections at grade + plumbing, electrical, and fire protection drawings + foundation drainage plan | Is every pipe, conduit, and duct bank that crosses the bentonite on the trade drawings detailed with the packed mastic or granular bentonite the article requires, does each wall section show how the membrane terminates at its top edge and at its vertical edges, and since the guide leaves the termination bar, drain board, and drainage piping for the editor to add, are they added to the issued section or covered by Section 33 46 16 and another issued section, matching the drain board and foundation drain drawn on the sections? |
| Weather, pre-hydration, protection, and backfill | Delivery, Storage, and Handling + Environmental Requirements (no standing or active water, cover before the membrane is compacted below grade, inspection and the manufacturer’s written acceptance after pre-hydration before concrete or backfill) + Protection article (polyethylene cover until backfill, damaged membrane replaced) + Backfill article (smooth uniform material, compaction to ASTM D1557, no salt) + Section 31 00 00 Structural Fill Placement and Adjacent Areas + dewatering plan | Does the dewatering and excavation plan keep standing water off the membrane until the slab or backfill is placed, is the manufacturer’s written acceptance after pre-hydration listed as a submittal, since the Submittals article does not list it, and since the Backfill article sets a lower minimum compaction for backfill against the membrane than the Structural Fill Placement and Adjacent Areas paragraphs of Section 31 00 00 set for backfill beside structures, has the specifier said which governs, and do the earthwork notes keep sharp, salty, or contaminated material out of that backfill? |
| Product data, properties, warranty, and corrections | Submittals article (product data for bentonite materials and the membrane; manufacturer’s instructions for application, protection, and corrections; sustainability note) + Sodium Bentonite Properties table (“Typical Value” column; Free Swell row) + Bentonite Membrane paragraph and performance table + Warranty article (manufacturer’s non-prorated warranty, term bracket) + Corrections article | Is one warranty term kept, with a submittal added for the warranty, which the Submittals article does not list, has the specifier turned the Sodium Bentonite Properties table, headed “Typical Value” beneath a sentence that calls its rows requirements, into enforceable limits and named the free swell test method the table omits, has the metric bentonite mass that differs between the Bentonite Membrane paragraph and its own performance table been corrected, and has the sustainability note, which points to a bracketed option the submittal list does not contain, been resolved? |
Worked example: an under-slab membrane nobody drew, joints with no treatment, and brackish groundwater
Illustrative example: a new below-grade secure communications vault is built beside an existing headquarters building near a tidal river, with its walls cast against a soldier pile and lagging wall on two sides. The geotechnical report puts the design groundwater level above the vault floor and reports brackish groundwater, and the design includes no groundwater control system. The issued Section 07 17 00 keeps the whole Application bracket but deletes the polymeric liner and the seam tape, the wall sections show bentonite on the walls, and the slab section shows only a vapor retarder under the floor, with no lap from the wall membrane at the footing. The structural drawings show vertical construction joints in the walls with no waterstop, the section still lists bentonite tubes without saying where they go, the electrical duct bank enters through the wall with no penetration detail, and the wall sections draw a drainage composite and a foundation drain that no issued section specifies.
Ask the architect and the geotechnical engineer to record the basis for bentonite in a hydrostatic condition without groundwater control, through local practice or the building official’s acceptance, or to move the vault to the membrane the opening note names, and ask the manufacturer and the geotechnical engineer whether the brackish groundwater calls for the lined membrane and its seam tape. Ask the architect to carry the membrane under the floor slab with a detailed lap at the footing and to detail the duct bank penetration, ask the structural engineer to give every wall construction joint a waterstop in Section 03 30 00 and to say where the bentonite tubes go or delete them, and ask the specifier to add the drain board and foundation drain, through Section 33 46 16 or another issued section, and to say how the membrane is placed and held against the lagging, since the Surface Preparation article addresses only formed concrete and mortar surfaces.
See the published sump-opening finding. The illustrative scenario above is separate from that published finding.
Avoid a false conflict
Section 07 17 00 covers geotextile-encapsulated sodium bentonite membranes, with bentonite mastic, granular bentonite, and bentonite tubes, on below-grade walls and footings and under the slabs and other elements its Application article lists. Built-up hot-mopped membranes follow Section 07 12 00 and the built-up waterproofing guide, elastomeric sheet membranes follow Section 07 13 53 and the sheet waterproofing guide, fluid-applied membranes under a separate wearing course follow Section 07 14 00 and the fluid-applied waterproofing guide, and dampproofing where there is no hydrostatic pressure follows Section 07 11 13 and the bituminous dampproofing guide. Waterstops, including the swellable hydrophilic strip, and curing follow Section 03 30 00, backfill compaction and dewatering follow Section 31 00 00, and foundation drains follow Section 33 46 16 Subdrainage Piping, so check those before calling a requirement missing. The guide has no termination bar, drain board, drainage piping, or protection board article, which its PART 3 note leaves the editor to add, no treatment for construction or expansion joints, and no submittal for the warranty or for the manufacturer’s acceptance after pre-hydration. Its opening note offers bentonite as an alternative to the multi-ply membrane of Section 07 12 00, then sends walls and floors with a hydrostatic condition and no groundwater control to a multi-ply membrane it places in Section 07 13 53, so ask the designer, and where needed the building official, which basis the project relies on. Its notes cite IBC Sections 1803.5.4, 1805.1.3, and 1805.3; confirm the edition your jurisdiction adopts. Groundwater levels, soil and groundwater chemistry, hydrostatic and uplift design, and slab design belong to the geotechnical and structural engineers, and the warranty is settled between the owner and the manufacturer. The current guide section cites ASTM D1557, D3776, D4833, D5084, D5385, and D5891; confirm the editions your project invokes.
When requirements disagree, follow the project’s document-control and clarification process. Do not assume that drawings always override specifications, or the reverse. Identify the exact sources and request an authorized decision.
Close the issue across the affected documents
Record the location or tag, drawing and specification references, issue dates, observed difference, and the decision needed. Assign an owner and keep the item open until the response identifies the governing requirement. Check the revised drawings and specification references together; a response email alone may leave the issued package inconsistent.
For the overall process, use the guide to drawing and specification conflicts. Mark an inapplicable checklist row with a reason, and distinguish a verified correction from a question that still needs design information.
Where Groundbook fits
Groundbook’s drawing and specification review helps investigate potential disagreements in the documents you supply. Include the relevant specification sections and drawing references, then verify the cited evidence with the responsible reviewers before acting on a finding.