Basement Waterproofing

#1
PotS

PotS

You can't say f orum here
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#1
Just wondering if anyone has had to waterproof a basement?

The cinder block walls of my basement are starting to show signs of weeping, so I recently had a couple companies come out to assess the issue and give me quotes.

The prices I've been quoted are a kick in the nuts. Does having a warrantied waterproofed basement increase house value to warrant the expense?
 
#2
#2
One thing I know you should check is your gutters and downspouts. Make sure gutters aren't clogged and the downspouts are diverting the water far enough from your foundation.

If it was dry before, but wet now it could be a drainage issue.
 
#3
#3
ajvol01 said:
One thing I know you should check is your gutters and downspouts. Make sure gutters aren't clogged and the downspouts are diverting the water far enough from your foundation.

If it was dry before, but wet now it could be a drainage issue.
Click to expand...

Yep.

Will say though that most water is ground water coming up and not run off getting in.

Overall, it's a trade off of how much you want it dry vs how much you want to pay.
 
#4
#4
PotS said:
Just wondering if anyone has had to waterproof a basement?

The cinder block walls of my basement are starting to show signs of weeping, so I recently had a couple companies come out to assess the issue and give me quotes.

The prices I've been quoted are a kick in the nuts. Does having a warrantied waterproofed basement increase house value to warrant the expense?
Click to expand...

We did my parents basement about 20 years ago and we used a product called Damtite. It comes in a big bucket as a powder form and all you do is add water per the directions, mix it up and paint it on. It's thicker than paint but you'll want to do 2 coatings. 20 years later I can attest to this stuff holding true. Back then you could buy it at Home Depot or Lowes but they don't carry it anymore. They do have it on Amazon. When we did it we used anything from a paint brush to a soft bristle car wash brush to apply this stuff, mostly because it held more and went further. You are looking at about .10 per sq ft. with this product.
Damtite Water Proofing 01071 Powder Waterproofer - Hardware Sealers - Amazon.com

This product can also be applied to a damp/wet wall.

If it's a large basement I recommend having a Damtite party. Get some people over, supply the beer and pizza and get them started painting.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNSw6dK5MwE[/youtube]
 
#5
#5
Coug said:
We did my parents basement about 20 years ago and we used a product called Damtite. It comes in a big bucket as a powder form and all you do is add water per the directions, mix it up and paint it on. It's thicker than paint but you'll want to do 2 coatings. 20 years later I can attest to this stuff holding true. Back then you could buy it at Home Depot or Lowes but they don't carry it anymore. They do have it on Amazon. When we did it we used anything from a paint brush to a soft bristle car wash brush to apply this stuff, mostly because it held more and went further. You are looking at about .10 per sq ft. with this product.
Damtite Water Proofing 01071 Powder Waterproofer - Hardware Sealers - Amazon.com

This product can also be applied to a damp/wet wall.

If it's a large basement I recommend having a Damtite party. Get some people over, supply the beer and pizza and get them started painting.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNSw6dK5MwE[/youtube]
Click to expand...

Coug is bringing great info.
 
#6
#6
Thanks guys. According the pushy sales guy, there's so much water absorbed into the cinder blocks that if it freezes it will crack and then I'm really SOL.

is that something I should really be concerned with or is it a scare tactic? Obviously cracking WOULD be a severe issue, but wouldn't it take some extreme ground temps to actually affect the blocks?
 
#7
#7
Yea I got some quotes from those basement companies. $15k to completely seal my crawlspace. Already spent $5k outside trying to divert water where a new house was built above me and they have been flooding me. Gonna do it come next May before the house rots away with mold and decay. It will also hide the sins of previous floods when I sell this joint.
 
#8
#8
Rocky-Top 10EC said:
Yea I got some quotes from those basement companies. $15k to completely seal my crawlspace. Already spent $5k outside trying to divert water where a new house was built above me and they have been flooding me. Gonna do it come next May before the house rots away with mold and decay. It will also hide the sins of previous floods when I sell this joint.
Click to expand...
I'd get your insurance company involved and tell them about the runoff coming from the new house. They might be financially responsible. You never know in these situations.
 
#9
#9
I worked for a waterproofing company, Tennessee Valley Waterproofing, to put myself through UT in the early 2000's. We used a product called Tuff n Dry, which was an exterior barrier.
TUFF-N-DRI H8 - Tremco Barrier Solutions
We retrofitted numerous existing houses. By far the best way to go because you are preventing the water from ever penetrating the block at all, however, it is expensive due to the cost of excavation and dirt works.
The interior products seem to work well; however, you are giving into the fact that the water is going to saturate you block walls. This will eventually cause deterioration and possibly rotting of your seal plate depending on how high the water is coming in. You will need to run an interior drain into a sump to ensure that there is no hydrostatic pressure building up on your walls.
That salesman is kinda full of crap on the freezing and cracking issue. As normally basements, because they are underground, will never get cold enough to actually freeze. I am unsure what the frost line is where you’re at, but normally it is only 7-10 inches. This is your freeze zone.

As mentioned check your downspouts and run off areas. A lot of times this will resolve a lot of the problems.
 
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#10
#10
davethevol said:
I'd get your insurance company involved and tell them about the runoff coming from the new house. They might be financially responsible. You never know in these situations.
Click to expand...

I have fought that battle and lost.
 
#11
#11
coors40light said:
I worked for a waterproofing company, Tennessee Valley Waterproofing, to put myself through UT in the early 2000's. We used a product called Tuff n Dry, which was an exterior barrier.
TUFF-N-DRI H8 - Tremco Barrier Solutions
We retrofitted numerous existing houses. By far the best way to go because you are preventing the water from ever penetrating the block at all, however, it is expensive due to the cost of excavation and dirt works.
The interior products seem to work well; however, you are giving into the fact that the water is going to saturate you block walls. This will eventually cause deterioration and possibly rotting of your seal plate depending on how high the water is coming in. You will need to run an interior drain into a sump to ensure that there is no hydrostatic pressure building up on your walls.
That salesman is kinda full of crap on the freezing and cracking issue. As normally basements, because they are underground, will never get cold enough to actually freeze. I am unsure what the frost line is where you’re at, but normally it is only 7-10 inches. This is your freeze zone.

As mentioned check your downspouts and run off areas. A lot of times this will resolve a lot of the problems.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much, this is exactly what I was looking for. I have water lines the span of the bricks on the interior front wall in my basement. Outside excavation is not an option at this point, and any interior barrier product will only encase the existing water in the blocks.

I'm pretty confident that drilling weeping holes and installing a french drain along the perimeter of the wall and having a 2nd sump pump installed is the way to go, but $27k is a hit I just can't take right now, and I wanted to get outside opinions on whether I can mitigate the issue for a little while longer, or if I'm in dire need like the rep alluded.

The guy also said any basement larger than about 120' (perimeter) should have 2 sump pumps to handle the amount of water. My basement perimeter is 186', and my current sump pump system is only being fed by 1.25" pvc drain pipe. In your opinion, is my current setup far too inefficient for its size?
 
#13
#13
We never did any internal work so i cannot give you specs on what you need. My assumption is that the number of sumps is negated by the size of your pump. So one sump should be fine if you have a pump that can put out enough GPM’s to offset the amount of water you have coming in. I know that we use one sump to drain the entire external foundation drains when daylighting the pipes was not an option.
 
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#15
#15
We used B dry a couple of years ago, and haven't had another leak. Had tried several different approaches and nothing worked. The main issue with B dry is that you have to remove any item, including walls, stairs etc., away from the exterior walls before they begin. That was a Major pain in the gluteus maximus and I don't want to go into having to put back up everything that I had to take down in the beginning. There is a life time warranty on the work, life time of the house, this also covers the stump pump.
 
#16
#16
Rent a mini excavator, dig 2 big gravel sumps, and run french drains in their general direction.
 
#17
#17
PotS said:
Thanks guys. According the pushy sales guy, there's so much water absorbed into the cinder blocks that if it freezes it will crack and then I'm really SOL.

is that something I should really be concerned with or is it a scare tactic? Obviously cracking WOULD be a severe issue, but wouldn't it take some extreme ground temps to actually affect the blocks?
Click to expand...

Scare tactic. If soil 8' below grade is freezing then human life is not living. Don't believe their crap. Proper drainage ( rock, perforated pipe and soil) is the key. Pipe downspouts away. Clean interior block and then use Hydralic cement or another type of water stop. It's not hard but it does take time.
 
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