On January 1, 2026, the national standard GB/T 18445-2025 “Cement-based Permeable Crystalline Waterproof Material” was officially implemented. It has been half a year so far.
As one of the most important guiding standards in the field of domestic waterproofing, the revision of the new national standard has brought about a transformational effect on the entire industry. Many practitioners who have been deeply involved in waterproofing for a long time have clearly felt that the demand for structural self-waterproofing-related products and solutions has increased significantly in the recent engineering consultation.
The core adjustment of this new national standard is that for the first time the “self-healing ability” of waterproof materials is clearly defined at the national standard level: that is, when micro-cracks occur in the concrete structure, the active substances in the waterproof materials can react on their own to form crystals, fill the cracks and pores, and achieve automatic recovery of waterproof performance.
The addition of this indicator directly reconstructs the evaluation logic of waterproof materials: in the past, when the industry screened waterproof materials, the core inspection parameters were static performance indicators such as “anti-seepage pressure” and “bonding strength”, but now “self-healing ability” has become a hard entry threshold alongside traditional indicators.
The most direct impact of this standard adjustment is that structural self-waterproofing has changed from a “high-end option” used only in key projects and high-end projects in the past to a “standard option” that now covers all types of civil, commercial, and municipal projects.
Waterproof materials that do not meet the self-healing requirements are naturally at a competitive disadvantage under the new national standard framework and will be gradually eliminated from the market.
Behind the standard upgrade is the long-standing pain point of leakage in the domestic construction waterproofing field.
According to public survey data from the China Building Waterproofing Association, the current leakage rate of domestic underground buildings is as high as 57.51%. Traditional passive waterproofing solutions can only form a layer of waterproofing membrane after construction is completed. Once the building structure settles and micro-cracks occur due to thermal expansion and contraction, the waterproofing layer will easily break and become ineffective. Subsequent leak repairs are not only expensive, but also difficult to solve the leakage problem at its root.
The new national standard’s requirements for self-healing capabilities are exactly the solution aimed at the pain points of this industry.
According to industry data released by the China Business Industry Research Institute, the total output of domestic waterproof materials in 2025 will be approximately 2.284 billion square meters. The overall production capacity is still in the contraction and adjustment stage, but the market share of structural self-waterproofing-related categories has shown a rising trend against the trend.
Many self-healing waterproof materials that meet the requirements of the new national standard can already achieve complete self-healing of microcracks below 0.4mm. Some mature technology products have also passed the relevant standard atlas demonstration and are adapted to the waterproofing needs of various underground spaces, traffic tunnels, water conservancy projects and other scenarios.
Industry insiders pointed out that the upgrade of the national standard for cement-based penetrating crystalline waterproof coatings is a landmark event in the transformation of the domestic waterproofing industry from the pursuit of short-term waterproofing effects to the pursuit of waterproofing performance throughout the entire life cycle of buildings. As the downstream engineering end continues to increase its recognition of self-repair waterproofing technology, in the future the production capacity of the entire waterproofing industry will be further concentrated on companies with core technology research and development capabilities. The market size of the structural self-waterproofing track will also see continued rapid growth, providing stronger support for the improvement of the quality of domestic construction projects.
