When you are finishing a basement, waterproofing basement walls is a useful thing to do. Most basements have high moisture levels, and much of the moisture enters via the basement walls. The most common reasons for water build-up problems in basements are caused usually by cracks, leaking windows and pipe condensation. You will run into all kinds of issues if you allow too much water retention or allow it to stay for too long.
Basement Wall Options
There are numerous ways of waterproofing basement walls and these include:
- French Drains
- Hollow Baseboard Molding
- Sump Pumps
- Waterproofing
- Damp Proofing
French Drains
You have many choices when it comes to waterproofing basement walls, however to get your best results you first need to figure out exactly how and where your water is coming from, be it through the walls from freeze thaw cycles or heavy rains and run off, or is it coming from an underground spring, or do you simply have a damp or humid basement?
French Drains
An exterior system running the perimeter or partial perimeter of your house for heavy rain run off drainage, or an interior system if water is coming into your basement through the floors or cove between the floor and the wall. Whilst the basement floor is still wet, dig a trench around its inside perimeter. A pierced plastic drain tile pipe is placed and encircled by stones and pebbles. When trying to recement the floor over a French drain system, some repair and waterproofing contractors leave a gap that can be one to two inches in the floor to allow the web wall seppage to dair below the floor. A drain that connects to a sump pump is usually the French type.
Hollow Baseboard Molding and Cove Systems
A hollow baseboard channel is adhered to the joint where the floor meets the wall using a waterproof epoxy. This empty molding will gather wet wall seepage as well as fluid which rises at the cove region. More often than not, linked to a sump pump.
Sump Pumps
One item you can include when waterproofing your basement walls is a sump pump that can be installed below the basement floor. In order to collect underground water one case install a device known as a sump pump. This should solve your underground water problems! Sump pumps can also act as a good floor drain or be used to drain a variety of underground drainage pipes.
Wall Sealers
Varieties include spray applied basement wall sealers, brush or roller applied basement waterproofing sealers, or panel type basement waterproofing sealers for wet basement walls.
In reality a good drainage system cannot guarantee dry basement walls. Lets look at damp proofing and waterproofing as these are the cheapest and easiest methods of stopping moisture getting into your basement through the walls.
Damp proofing means what?
You may be asking yourself what is involved in damp proofing your basement and the best example I can give of damp proofing would be to think of a castle with a moat and think about how to keep the water away from this castle; first you build the permiable palette layer where you want the castle floor, then you would place a solid layer over that, then you would leave a vent space and lay your foundation; as for your walls, you would build your walls, then do your solid layer and then your permiable layer, and now you have damp proofed your castle.
Damp proofing products are typically a tar based material in a solvent base. Although these are a cheap fix, they are not very effective because they are designed only to slow down the moisture build up not prevent it. Unfortunately as curing takes place it is possible for it to become brittle. This is a result of the settling of the foundations and can result in the spontaneous appearance of cracks in the walls. The walls will then unfortunately lose their waterproofing as the coating will not be able to cover the cracks.
Find out the meaning of waterproofing.
Waterproofing products are designed to 'prevent' water penetration even under wet conditions such as hydrostatic pressure in the soil after heavy rain or spring thaws. The rubber used in Advanced Water Proofing Technologies products provides superior waterproofing protection and allows the product to remain flexible even after drying. How you will stretch the foundation to settle the flexibility of waterproofing
Applying
There is not much price difference between waterproofing and damp proofing which show that waterproofing as the right alternative considering that oftentimes it goes with a 25 to 30-year guarantee
In the earlier days builders often did not consider waterproofing the basement walls as important. So now you can fix that with a product anyone can use. Most of the products are safe and easy to apply by the do-it-yourselfer.
Available in 5 gallon pails or 55 gallon drums, they are ready for use and do not require heating or other application equipment, just the use of a brush or roller. You can even use a commercial airless sprayer which can be rented by the day. An average size basement of approximately 1,000 square feet can easily be waterproofed by a couple of people using a roller in 2-3 hours. So get started and begin to enjoy your basement space without the dampness.
No comments:
Post a Comment