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armistead14

Waterproofing basement

Armistead14
10 years ago

Read many of the post. Bought a foreclosed home with basement, typical on the hill, but front and one side totally underground, other side has a retaining wall. It was obvious the old paneling had once flooded. The previous owner said he solved the problem by installing a baseboard system. He also installed plastic on walls behind paneling.

The slope is terrible and about even to the house, but the front yard slopes to the house. I noticed clear plastic was placed front of the house like under the beds/natural area extending about 5 feet into the yard. If anything this is collecting water, so I will fix the slopes. I was wondering if I got a decent slope away from the house, doe it help to lay plastic under the natural areas to force water away.

The previous said he had no water issues since his fixes and I've been remodeling for 4 months as I have time, we've had a lot of rain, sometimes large amounts for days and I've had no water in the basement.

My plan is to leave the baseboard system as is since it's there. I've watched during hard rains and see no or little water coming from the drain pipe that runs outside.....I plan to remove old panel and sheet plastic and apply dryloc on the walls to the base, assuming it was installed correctly. I pulled back one piece and see no coatings behind it. I will also install French drains, then fix the slopes....I hope this is enough. One thing I'm not sure about is I hear while dryloc may stop water, the buildup of pressure could cause wall failure in time...I'm hoping correct slope, drains and base system would be enough to stop that. I want to simply paint the block white, so thinking dryloc better than filler and paint.

The house was built in 71, interior walls seem fine, no bulging. From the outside it seems most the block was covered with some layer of thick cementitious coating, but much of it has popped and blistered. I guess when installing drains I should expose exterior block down a few feet and recoat with whatever is good...

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