You should always make sure to waterproof your basement walls when you are finishing it. Moisture entering through the walls of the basement is the main reason that area of your house is more damp than the rest of the house. 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
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. An excavation was made inside the drenched basement floor. A perforated plastic drain tile pipe is installed and surrounded by gravel. Some wet basement waterproofing and repair contractors re-cement the floor over the French drain system leaving a 1 inch to 2 inch gap in the floor along the walls to allow the web wall seepage to drain below the floor into the French drain system. A French drain usually connects to a sump pump.
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. The hollow molding collects wet wall seepage and water rising at the cove area. In most cases linked to the 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.
What are the varieties that should be applied in all basement waterproofing?
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. They are cheap to apply but their effectiveness is limited because they are only to designed to ‘retard’ moisture penetration, not prevent it. The main problem is that it becomes brittle once it cures and as the foundation settles and hairline cracks appear, the tar based coating will not stretch to bridge the cracks and this allows moisture to penetrate into the basement.
What is Waterproofing?
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.
Application instructions
Clearly waterproofing is a better option and since there is not a huge price difference between that and damp proofing, it seems a more sensible long term choice, especially when it often has a 25 to 30-year guarantee.
Builders, many times in the past, paid little attention to waterproofing basement walls. At this point you have the opportunity to put this situation right with convenient products that have easy to follow instructions 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 even use a commercial airless sprayer which can be rented by the day. Two people using rollers to waterproof a basement of about 1,000 square feet can accomplish the task easily in about two to three hours. So get to it and start enjoying all that space without the damp.
0