On the deck, where the real work begins

By Jesse Sanchez. 

The morning fog hangs low in Newport Beach and the jobsite keeps going anyway. 

In this live on location episode of CoatingsTalk, host Heidi J. Ellsworth stands alongside Jan Bagnall, the inventor of the Pli-Dek system, and  Samantha Clowdus, Pli-Dek’s Southern California representative,  to discuss the jobsite at hand. Heidi jokingly called it “live from the deck” with a grin.  

Along this stretch of coastal California, moisture arrives early and often, and when a walkable surface fails, it rarely does so gently. Those harsh environmental factors are what brought the Pli-Dek team to the project in the first place, and CoatingsCoffeeShop® was there to get the story first-hand. The job of facing such a challenge is what brought Jan to Pli-Dek, a waterproof decking system shaped by jobsite experience and designed to withstand foot traffic, salt air and  leaks.  

Jan Bagnall built a product because the old ones kept breaking and the industry ran out of excuses 

Jan, Pli-Dek’s inventor and longtime technical voice, said the idea started in 1979 with a roofer’s frustration and a contractor roommate who kept seeing deck systems fall apart. Urethane over plywood was common, Jan said, but seams split as buildings moved. Fire ratings became the other hard line. 

Pli-Dek’s polymer cement base coat, Jan said, delivers durability and early jobsite protection. It is UV stable and strong enough to take scaffolding and construction traffic while the rest of the building catches up. 

“The worst thing you want to have happen is the project to leak and create mold and mildew and everybody’s upset,” Jan shared. 

The details that look small from the street are the ones that keep residents dry 

On this rehab project, crews tore back stucco and rebuilt transitions because flashing, paper and weep screeds decide whether water goes out or sneaks behind the wall. Jan walked through seam treatment, lath overlap and expansion joints, explaining how the system is layered: base coat, fiberglass and resin, skim coat, texture and color seal. 

He even smiled at a trick from the field, a hammer method that jiggles plywood so the cement self-levels and trowel lines disappear. 

Fire is not optional on California decks 

Samantha said the realities of building in California leave no room for systems that fall short of modern fire expectations. 

“In high-traffic areas, this is what you want to put down on your deck,” Samantha said. “The last thing we want is leaks, because that’s going to lead to more serious problems.”  

Pli-Dek meets Class A and one-hour fire ratings and has passed the Wildland Urban Interface test, a high-fire-zone requirement that has grown stricter as inspections have intensified statewide. In California, a walkable deck must do more than keep water out. It has to remain intact when conditions turn hostile. 

Training is where the system stays honest and where contractors find their next lane 

Samantha also said certification opens bidding opportunities for roofing and waterproofing contractors who want to keep more scopes in-house. The process starts at Pli-Dek.com through the contact form, phone or email and the company supports both classroom-style training and on-site first-job guidance. It is a system designed not just to be installed, but to be learned, practiced and carried forward on real jobsites. 

Read the webinar transcript, Listen to the conversation or Watch the recording  to learn more about Pli-Dek waterproof decking systems, certification and jobsite support!