Information On Do It Yourself Basement Waterproofing

By Christopher W Smith

Basement waterproofing is one of the things that you can do yourself. Not only is DIY basement waterproofing something that you can do to a new home, this is something that should be done to an older home as needed. There are several different systems available that you can use to waterproof your basement. These include installing a system of plastic chambers to channel the water to the drainage system, or installing a self priming pump to remove any detected water. One of the easiest ways of do it yourself basement waterproofing includes sealing the concrete with a painted on water-proofer.

When sealing concrete the first thing you need to do is make sure that you have a clean smooth surface. Any rough areas and any cracks in the concrete need to be taken care of. You can do this by simply knocking off any of the larger globs of concrete that are sticking out from the wall with a hammer, and then smoothing the rest of it off with some heavy duty sandpaper. You don't need a perfectly smooth wall; you just want to have a fairly smooth surface to work with. If you're going to use the concrete surface as your wall and are not covering it with any other substance besides paint you want it to be fairly smooth.

Any cracks that you have in your concrete you will need to repair. Do this by knocking off any loose concrete and getting down to the good concrete. Anything that's loose within the crack needs to be removed. Once the crack is clear of any debris flush it out with water and allow it to dry. Once all the cracks have dried they can be filled. There are a couple of different substances you can use to fill the crack. Injecting it with a fast setting hydraulic cement compound is the best solution.

Once you have your surface as smooth as you want and the cracks repaired, you can simply paint concrete water proofer onto the surface and allow it to dry. This is the easiest form of basement waterproofing and the least reliable. If you are going to use drywall or any other substance that covers the basement wall completely, you're likely not going to want to use this method of waterproofing. This is only for a quick fix or a method that you plan on being able to monitor continuously.

If you want to put walls over top of the concrete then you need to put a waterproofing system in place that can go along the floor and allow water to travel in its own chamber to the drainage system. This will keep the water that will inevitably push towards your basement in an area that is controlled so that water damage can be prevented. There are many different brands of systems that you can use, and all come with directions specific to that brand.

If basement waterproofing is not done, you will most likely have water damage within the first 6 to 8 months of building the basement. Finding the right solution for your specific needs is as easy as deciding how much work you want to put into waterproofing and how frequently you want to update your basement waterproofing system.

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