If you’re looking for information on Waterproofing Basement Walls, this has it all.

Waterproofing basement walls should be a standard thing to do when finishing a basement. 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. A great deal of problems can be created from too much water or long term water retention in the basement.

Basement Wall Options

You have many choices when it comes to waterproofing basement walls:

- 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 pierced plastic drain tile pipe is placed and encircled by stones and pebbles. 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.

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. Water rising at a cove area in a basement will also damage hollow molding since it will retain moisture from a wet wall. In most cases linked to the sump pump.

Sump Pumps – Installed in a plastic or fiberglass tank below the wet 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?

The fact is that even with a good drainage system there is no surety of the basement walls remaining dry. We need to evaluate the most economical method to stop moisture from getting in the basement walls and this may be damp proofing and waterproofing.

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.

Proofing products that are moist are usually made of tar 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.  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.

Find out the meaning of waterproofing.

Products used for waterproofing underground areas, such as a basement, are only designed to prevent water from penetrating the walls especially after heavy rains or spring thaws; but, if you have underground water from a source such as a spring you may need to install a sump pump to prevent water from entering your basement from under the floor.  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.

In the past, builders ignored the need to waterproof 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.  Commercial airless sprayers can be rented by the day to waterproof basement walls.  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 started and begin to enjoy your basement space without the dampness.

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