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Do It Yourself Basement Waterproofing
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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