I have a house that I am going to be renting out that has a basement with poured concrete walls and a concrete floor. The basement doesn't flood, but it does have a sump pump, and the pump does pump out water from under the slab, especially after a heavy rain. I don't want to refinish the basement, but I do want to clean up the way it looks a little and eliminate that slight musty smell. The basement is very high, clean, spacious, and nice.
There is no detectable moisture that comes through the walls or the floors. I tested this using the "tape and seal a piece of aluminum foil" trick on the walls and the floor. After a few days, when the taped and sealed foil is removed there is no moisture there. Despite all of this, there is a VERY SLIGHT musty smell in the basement -- it is almost undetectable, but it's there.
The house has an electric heat pump HVAC system. There are no intake or supply vents in any of the HVAC ducts in the basement. My plan is to have an HVAC person cut in some intake and supply vents so the basement will be served by the HVAC the way the rest of the house is. I think that alone will probably eliminate the slight musty smell in the basement.
I did the "acid wash" (or whatever it is called) on the walls and then painted them with a very light blue DryLock paint just as an extra sealer on the walls. I have more than enough DryLock paint left to also do the floor.
I now want to paint the floor -- either with just latex porch and floor paint, or with the DryLock paint first and then with latex porch and floor paint on top of that.
My inclination is to do the floor with the DryLock paint first, and then paint over that with latex porch and floor paint.
Is that okay?