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Follow on Google News |  Basement Waterproofing is a Good Investment in Tough TimesCuring A Wet Basement Provides More Usable Space. If your house is cramped for space, you may find the extra room you need in your basement. It already has rough walls, floor, and ceiling...
Even if you have lived in your house for several years, you may not be completely aware of the amount of moisture that penetrates its basement walls and floor. Even a relatively dry basement at times can admit or generate enough moisture to injure finishing materials. So the first step in remodeling a basement is to inspect it thoroughly for signs of wetness. If you find any, you must then determine their cause and take appropriate corrective action. How do you proceed? Vulcan Basement Waterproofing, the time-honored specialist in basement waterproofing, offers the following suggestions: 1. Examine basement walls closely. If they are poured concrete, note the condition of the concrete surrounding the exposed ends of the metal tie rods embedded in the walls. Efflorescence on the concrete indicates that water is seeping in around the rods. (Efflorescence is the white deposits of lime created by the leaching of moisture out of the masonry). If it is present, seal the ends of the rods. 2. If your basement walls are made of masonry blocks, check the condition of the mortar joints. Crumbly joints will admit water for the outside and should be repainted. If deterioration is widespread, the joints will probably require the attention of a professional because this condition undermines the strength of the foundation walls. 3. Examine walls carefully for vertical and horizontal cracks. They are potential sources of trouble, especially those surrounded by efflorescence and/or discoloration. This indicates definite moisture penetration and should be sealed. 4. Openings frequently develop in the area where walls and floor meet, permitting insects and moisture to enter the basement. Seal these crevices. 5. Inspect the mortar joints around piping and conduit that enter the basement below grade. These joints often leak and should be made watertight. 6. Check the structure where the frame rests on the foundation wall. Unevenness in the top of the wall (particularly common in a poured concrete foundation) often leaves gaps between it and the framing. These gaps allow outside moisture to enter the basement and should be grouted or caulked. 7. Look for efflorescence on the slab floor of the basement. As on walls, it indicates cracks or seepage through the masonry. Cracks in the floor around lally columns are common and, like all other openings in the floor, should be sealed. 8. Check water pipes for condensation (caused by warm air flowing over cold pipes). Condensation dripping from pipes can ruin basement ceiling tiles. So as a precaution, you may do well to wrap overhead water pipes with insulating tape before installing a ceiling underneath them. In some basements, condensation or clamminess is a problem. You can determine its severity by this simple test: During humid weather, tightly tape a 12”x12” sheet of aluminum foil to a basement wall and leave it in place for a day or so. If the face of the foil is wet, then condensation is something that should concern you. To correct it, as noted earlier, you should insulate water pipes. You should also make provisions to dry out the air in the basement. You can do this in several ways but remember this: Outdoor weather conditions cause humid basement air. You can’t eliminate humidity by opening windows on a hot humid day or right after a rainfall. That will only bring more humidity inside. Your best methods of controlling humidity in the basement are drying the air out through heat or a dehumidifier, or by exhausting it to the outdoors. In short, you should examine all ways that water can get in your basement. If you find only minor moisture penetration, you may be able to fix it yourself. There are many do-it-yourself kits and preparations on the market to help you. One such kit, for instance, contains epoxies for sealing tie rods and small cracks. To repair a crack, you chisel it out in the form of a V, with the widest part of the V inside the wall. Then you trowel in an epoxy filler and finally brush on an epoxy sealer. Also widely available are waterproofing paints and epoxies that you apply to inside the basement walls. You brush on the paints or scrub them into the walls. The epoxies consist of two vehicles that have to be mixed. You can brush some of these compounds on, but others are thick and have to be troweled on. Generally, the epoxies are deemed to be more effective than the paints. Coatings can remedy some basement minor water seepage problems however their effective life is of short duration, and then re-application becomes necessary. So they’re not recommended as the sole waterproofing protection for basement walls you intend to panel, thereby making re-application impossible. Properly done, outside excavation and coating method of waterproofing is more effective than those previously explained, but it is a drastic and costly solution to a problem. It involves chopping up and replacing established landscaping and concrete, such as plantings, grass, adjacent walks, steps, patios, etc. Coating outside walls, in many cases, if well done, will help alleviate water seepage though the walls but not through the floor or where the wall and floor meet in the basement and all too often, there are many cases in which further treatment is required. These cases involve hydrostatic pressure (water pressure from things such as underground springs, rivers, ground water, etc.) and a fluctuating high water table (a build-up of ground water that lies close to the surface of the earth). A basement effected by one or more of these conditions pose a special problem. Signs of their presence is indicated by water that seeps in at the cove (where the wall meets the floor) or up through the slab floor. The solution to these problems lie (1) in relieving the water pressure under the floor and around the foundation perimeter and (2) in diverting the water to a point where it can be pumped out or otherwise removed from the basement. To successfully arrive at this solution, one method advocated by the Vulcan Basement Waterproofing people employs a pressure relief system that requires no outside digging or destruction of property. It involves cutting a trench in the floor around the perimeter of the basement, next to the foundation walls. The trench must be excavated down to the footings and in it a system of drain tiles laid. The system must be adequately sized so that it can carry off all the water to a sump pump or drain for removal from the house. After the lines are installed, the trench must be filled with gravel, bleeders installed in the block walls and the floor re-sealed with concrete... Most any basements subject to severe water penetration; Vulcan Basement Waterproofing has been successfully waterproofing basements for over 60 years and are the Nationally Recognized Experts in basement waterproofing. Vulcan invented most of the methods currently used in the basement waterproofing industry today. # # # Wet, damp or moldy basement? Vulcan Basement Waterproofing can help! Free no obligation estimates. Proudly serving New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut & Delaware for over 60 years. Read the entire Press Release here: http://www.vulcanwaterproofing.com/ Visit us online at: http://www.vulcanwaterproofing.com/ End
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