After a heavy rain, large areas of the newly constructed waterproofing layer in the old community fell off; soon after moving into a new home, a pungent odor began to leak from the walls of the new house – the culprit turned out to be the same type of black product: fake waterproof materials and coatings from well-known brands.
Recently, market supervision and public security departments in many places across the country have intensively “demonstrated their swords”, a large number of counterfeit manufacturing and selling dens have been uprooted, and many major cases have been exposed.
Amid the chaos, there were even more arrogant behaviors: after the companies involved were investigated and punished, they moved, buried and seized fake goods overnight in an attempt to avoid punishment.
From infrastructure construction sites to the home improvement market, the battle against counterfeiting of building materials is far more severe than imagined.
As a core auxiliary material for construction projects, the quality of waterproof materials is directly related to the safety and service life of the building. However, this field is the hardest hit area for trademark infringement.
In early May, the Tianjin Binhai New Area Housing and Urban-Rural Development Department imposed administrative penalties on Zhongyu (Tianjin) Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. because the company used unqualified waterproofing materials in the renovation projects of long-term housing and old residential areas in Binhai New Area, causing large areas of rock flakes to fall off the roof waterproofing surface of the Andaili residential area.
According to the “Construction Project Quality Management Regulations”, the company was eventually fined 20,000 yuan.
The renovation of old residential areas is a practical matter that benefits people’s livelihood. The mixing of inferior waterproof materials not only greatly reduces the effect of renovation, but is also irresponsible for public safety.
Similar cases are not isolated.
In Yuyao, Zhejiang, the market supervision department conducted a surprise inspection of a commercial building based on a report from Keshun Waterproofing Company, and found 550 rolls of counterfeit “CKS Keshun” waterproofing membranes on site. In the end, the unit involved was confiscated, the infringing waterproofing membranes were destroyed, and an administrative fine of 500,000 yuan was imposed.
What is even worse is that after being caught with counterfeit waterproofing membranes, a unit involved in the case in Donghu High-tech Zone moved and buried the seized fakes overnight and replaced them with genuine materials in an attempt to get away with it. In the end, it was fined more than 200,000 yuan.
A building materials company in Maoming, Guangdong was also investigated for selling counterfeit “Three Trees” waterproof emulsion. 379 barrels of infringing products were confiscated on site and fined 60,000 yuan.
Large quantities of counterfeit waterproof materials on the engineering side disrupt the quality of infrastructure, while the scattered home improvement waterproofing track for ordinary households has spawned another type of counterfeiting scam disguised as marketing routines.
The experience of Tianjin citizen Ms. Han is a typical epitome of the chaos in home decoration waterproofing.
Ms. Han reported to the media that due to the moisture returning to the walls of her home, she made an appointment through a local life platform with a waterproofing merchant with “free survey” and “20-year warranty.”
After the master came to your door, he recommended the so-called “new technology of glue injection repair” and claimed to charge by the catty, 128 yuan per catty. The estimated material usage was less than ten catties.
When the completion was calculated, the amount of glue used was 57.44 kilograms, and the quoted price was nearly 7,400 yuan. After several negotiations, Ms. Han paid 5,500 yuan. However, the problem of moisture on the wall was not solved, and the area became larger and larger.
Behind this consumer scam is a mature production and marketing routine of inferior materials: According to the investigation, the so-called “nano black technology waterproof glue” on the market is mostly low-priced industrial raw materials repackaged with foreign language packaging, and merchants rely on the platform to obtain false positive reviews to attract traffic.
Inferior glue not only has no waterproof effect, but some products have harmful substances that exceed standards and continue to evaporate, threatening the health of residents.
This type of glue injection routine essentially relies on information gaps to harvest consumers. It is a normalized fraud in the field of home improvement and waterproofing.
If the infringement of waterproof materials is more likely to bury hidden dangers in the project, then once the paint that we live with day and night is fake, it is tantamount to placing a “health cancer” in the home.
The Jiading District Market Supervision Department in Shanghai recently destroyed a den for the production and sale of counterfeit brand latex paint. Counterfeiters purchased low-quality paint at a low price, simply blended it and directly filled it into recycled barrels of brands such as “Nippon Paint”, “Three Trees” and “Dulux”, and sold it to the public at a price far lower than the market price.
After testing, the content of harmful substances in these “toxic paints” far exceeds the national mandatory standards, and the long-term release of toxic volatiles poses a serious threat to the health of residents.
In a recent counterfeit paint case in Shayang County, Hubei Province, the counterfeiters not only built a den from raw material procurement to filling production, but also used methods such as regularly deleting records and cash transactions to avoid supervision. In the end, the procuratorial organs used data recovery technology to lock the evidence, and the upstream fake barrel suppliers were also prosecuted.
The centralized investigation of these “toxic paint” cases has revealed a complete gray industrial chain from packaging supply to production and filling to online sales.
Faced with increasingly hidden and complex counterfeiting methods, regulatory authorities are shifting from single law enforcement to full-chain governance.
This year, the State Administration for Market Regulation has deployed the 2026 “Guard Consumption” Iron Fist Operation, focusing on key areas such as building insulation materials and fire protection products to promote in-depth special rectification.
In the first quarter of 2026, the national market supervision system investigated and dealt with a total of 18,200 cases of various product quality violations, with a fine and confiscation amount of 130 million yuan, and 46 cases were transferred to the public security organs.
At the same time, brand companies are also taking the initiative.
Oriental Yuhong has developed a “product unique identity full supply chain management collaborative system” to achieve “one product, one code” traceability. Consumers can check the authenticity and production information of the product by scanning the code. Repeated scanning of the code will display the first query time to prevent “secondary counterfeiting”; Beixin Carbaoli issued a solemn statement,
Draw an after-sales “red line” – any product with damaged labels and missing key information will be deemed as unverifiable, and the official will no longer assume any quality assurance and after-sales service. This directly cuts off the way for counterfeiters to try to “launder” inferior products by damaging the anti-counterfeiting QR code and production batch number.
Fake waterproofing damages the foundation of the building, while fake paint poisons the health of residents.
Facing the gray industrial chain of manufacturing and selling counterfeit goods, heavy fines are not the end, and high pressure must be the norm.
Only by cooperating with multiple parties and attacking when problems arise can the building materials market return to clarity.
