Hi - We just moved into a 40 year old home. The basement walls (the foundation walls themselves) have some kind of textured off-white color textured skim coat. The off-white color may be due to age/dirt.

I have never seen this before. Any guesses?

The basement is kind of finished. I want to finish it right, but only after we do an addition in the spring. Until then, I wouldn't mind sprucing it up a bit by painting the walls. But... I don't want to paint the walls unless I can get a handle on this skim coat. Otherwose, of course, it will just peel.

My gut says that I cannnot paint it - certainly not latex. Drylok on top? Any pointers where I can do further investigation?

thx - feesher