Damp basement - preparing to Drylock

[RAY D.]

I own a 50-year old Cape Cod house in Long Island. My basement is currently unfinished, and I would like to reduce the dampness issue before I finish it off. My walls have a heavy case of efflorescence, which flakes off onto the floor. I have also seen small pools of water on the floor (near the wall) in one corner. There are also several craters in the wall & floor where the poured concrete has apparently fragmented. Here is what I am planning to do to resolve the situation, but would like some feedback to make sure I'm on the right track:

1. extend drainpipes further away from the house (already started this)
2. vacuum the walls/floor
3. use drylock etch (muriatic acid) to clean entire wall/floor area
4. use ajax with bleach to further clean walls/floor and to kill any mold
5. patch craters/cracks with drylock fastplug
6. paint walls with drylock latex

What I am wondering though is should I also drylock paint the floor as well? I was thinking of at least painting the floor six feet from the walls, just in case dampness is seeping in from there. Any feedback will be appreciated.

[m Ransley]

Drylock wont cure your problem but will help, Ive needed several times 7 coats to stop moisture. Acid fumes, and is real bad for the lungs you need a respirator and major ventilation exaust fans, Bleach kills only mold. Use a oil paint on the floors. You need to stop moisture from outside, finishing the walls should wait till you use a moisture meter to be sure mold wont grow behind the walls.

[Speedy Jim]

50 yrs ago on LI, there may not even be any footer drain tile. Keeping that foundation dry may be an uphill battle.

My main remarks though are about the Muriatic and bleach. Both release chlorine which is a major lung irritant and can have long-lasting effects (ask me how I know).

You will be spreading these chemicals over a large surface area which means lots of vapor release. You *may* want to consider how you will effectively ventilate while working and what type of respirator to be wearing.

Jim

[Jay Chan]

You may want to check the gutter and downsprout near that corner. The gutter may be stuffed with leaves, and the downsprout may be throwing water right at that corner instead of pouring the water far away from the house foundation. Better yet, clean all the gutter and downsprout, and check if the gutter and downsprouts function well in a heavy rain. I find that using a water hose to simulate raining just doesn't show all the problems in the gutter and downsprout -- nothing shows all the shortcomings in the gutter and downsprout like a heavy rain.

I was told that you need to extend the downsprout far away from the house foundation. I extend mine to 5 feet away, other people said that

10 feet is better.

People also suggested to make sure the grade around the house foundation is sloping away from the house, not directing the water back to the house foundation.

If you still have water problem in your basement after you have done all these, you may need to ask your neighbors to see if the ground water in your area is high.

If I remember this correctly, the manufacturer only recommends people using DryLock on the wall; they don't say anything about using it on the floor. I am under the impression that DryLock is not designed for floor application. Moreover, you may need to remove the DryLock if you need to use thinset to put ceramic tiles over the basement floor, and removing any paint from floor is a "tough" job. Therefore, my suggestion is to explore all the other alternatives before you paint the floor.

I used to have water problem in my basement. After I had painted DryLock on my basement wall, I still had water coming through from where the wall meets the floor. I finally fixed the problem by directing the downsprout at least 5 feet from the house foundation (and I also use a dehumidifier). I still have one more thing to fix (the downsprouts that pour water from the roof to the first floor overhang); nevertheless, the basement water problem is pretty much under control.

Jay Chan

[Chet Hayes]

You're absolutely right that the only way to know what's going on is to put on a raincoat on and take a look around the house during a heavy rain. I just had a problem with water showing up in the basement and couldn't figure out why. Turns out one of the 4" pipes I had slipped over the end of the leader was leaking there big time during heavy rain. Using a hose, you'd never see it.

[Jay Chan]

Glad to hear that you fixed your basement water problem (I know you are not the OP).

Water is very hard to predict its behavior. For example, my house has two floors. I have downsprouts pouring water from the roof onto the overhanging area in the first floor, and then the water is supposed to flow into the gutter of the overhanging area of the first floor and go down to another section of downsprout and onto the ground. That is the design. But in a heavy rain, I saw water throwing out from the downsprout in the second floor in such a strong force that the downsprouts were like large water hoses shooting water a good four feet out, and totally bypassing the gutter in the first floor and landing on the ground at the house foundation. Of course, I had water in my basement on that day right at the corners where the water was shooting at. If I was not at home at that day to witness that, I would never know the water in the basement had to do with the downsprout in the second floor, and had nothing to do with the downsprout in the first floor, and I would have spent time and effort trying to extend the first floor downsprout further and further away hoping that this would fix the problem, and I would still have water in my basement in the next heavy rain. Really, seeing is believing.

Jay Chan

[AskMeNot]

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