Sealing interior basement walls

[bobprokop]

Situation: 70-year old house, poured foundation. Certain walls have moisture issues; seepage, deterioration of concrete; other walls are fine. Gutters drain into underground (cast iron) pipe; I've closed a couple of those off and no longer use them. Gutters in decent shape, grading OK -- but I don't have mulch down in the beds near the house for fear of artillery (shotgun) mold. I've only been in the house for

9 months; water has been an issue for a very long time w/certain walls because there is evidence of previous owner repair. Overall, house is in good shape for her age.

Decision: I'm planning on sealing 2-3 of the more troublesome walls from the inside w/RadonSeal Plus

My friend used it on his basement slab. I'm in the process of removing old paint and prepping the walls for application (lots of paint scraper blades being dulled down!).

Question: Do you have any experience with this product? Do you think this is a good idea? RadonSeal claims to penetrate up to 4" (oh -- I don't have an issue w/Radon levels -- it just seems like the best product for these particular walls). Supposedly, it penetrates the porous concrete and fills the gaps and hardens (after purging foreign matter to the surface for removal). You simply spray it on with a garden pump-type sprayer. Key is surface prep. After that, I plan on fixing any cracks (injection and/or epoxy), then smoothing out rough areas with a skim coat. Once that has cured, I'll either apply more RadonSeal Plus -- or use another of their products, IonBond (more of a surface sealer, although this supposedly penetrates up to 2"). Finally, I'll finish w/waterproofing paint.

Does this sound like a good plan to you? Yes, it's hard (and dirty) work -- but I want to try what I can inside before any excavation outside. On a good day, I can already get the humidity level down to

40-45%; on a bad day, it can hit the mid-to-high 60% range.

Concerns: is it OK to use such a product? Will the fact that it doesn't reach all the way through to the outside cause more pressure to build up? I also plan on sealing all the outside masonry (brick on top of poured foundation -- it's a Tudor Revival), so that should also help.

Any guidance, suggestions, or alternative solutions are very much appreciated.

Thanks!

[aemeijers]

Unless you can confirm that the pipes the downspouts drain into go into a working drain and away from the house, I'd pull apart and cap those connections, and add elbows and conventional splash blocks. When I did that to this place, almost all the basement water problems magically went away.

aem sends....

[ransley]

70-year old house, poured foundation. Certain walls have

Run the drains on the lawn away from the house maybe 8 ft. The best way to fix the water comming in is to water proof from the outside but its expensive. A concrete -rubber waterproofing paint is avalaible it can take up to 7 coats to work I think its called UGL avalaible most everywhere.

[The Reverend Natural Light]

I'll second that recommendation.

The builder of my place ran the downspouts into the foundation drains (really!) which probably plugged up in the first season. The previous owner watched the basement flood for 30+ years before hiring a waterproofing contractor who jackhammered interior french drains and installed a sump pit. What a rip off.

The first thing I did after buying the place was run the downspouts into plastic pipes out across the lawn (someday I'll bury them). The french drain has been dry for three years now.