When you are finishing a basement, waterproofing basement walls is a useful thing to do. Basement walls are the entry point of most moisture creating a high level of moisture in them. Cracks, leaking windows and pipe condensation are probably the most common reasons basements have water build-up problems. Too much or prolonged water retention in the basement can cause a variety of problems.
Basement Wall Options
Among the available methods are:
- French Drains
- Hollow Baseboard Molding
- Sump Pumps
- Waterproofing
- Damp Proofing
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. A trench is dug round the inside perimeter of the wet basement floor. A perforated plastic drain tile pipe is installed and surrounded by gravel. 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 French drain usually connects to a sump pump.
what might be the possible use of the Hollow Baseboard Molding.is it good enough to adhered or joint for epoxy use? Water rising at a cove area in a basement will also damage hollow molding since it will retain moisture from a wet wall. More often than not, linked to a sump pump.
One item you can include when waterproofing your basement walls is a sump pump that can be installed below the basement floor. Sump pumps can collect underground water through perforations in the sump well in the immediate vicinity of the sump pump. A good way of draining excess water from a basement floor or from any underground drainage pipes that you might have is to utilise a sump pump.
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.
What is Damp Proofing?
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 pallette 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.
The majority of waterproofing products are comprised of a tar based substance in a solvent base. Application is inexpensive but efficiency is limited since they are manufactured to retard and not to prevent moisture penetration. 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.
Does waterproofing may help a lot in protecting basement walls?
The water proofing products are such that they stop water penetrate into wet places as well. Because hydrstatic pressure in the soil after heavy rain or spring starts thawing. Advanced Waterproofing Technologies provides supieor waterproofing protection as the products contain rubber and it allows flexibility when it dries. This flexibility allows the waterproofing membrane to stretch as the foundation settles and bridge small hairline settlement cracks that can occur in the concrete or block.
How to Apply
Obviously it would be most sensible to use waterproofing as it offers better long term results and you might well find that it comes with a guarantee that lasts for up to thirty years.
Builders, many times in the past, paid little attention to waterproofing basement walls. So now you can fix that with a product anyone can use. The products available in the market are easy to apply and mostly they are do it yourself types. These are available in 5 gallon pails or 55 gallon drums, as an example, and are ready for use without heat or any specialized equipment - if you can use a brush or a roller, you can use these. You can also utilize a commercially available airless sprayer that can be rented on a daily basis. 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 to it and start enjoying all that space without the damp.