What product works best?? waterproofing basement walls

Question

Hi Bigger Pockets- What product have you used that works the best for waterproofing a basement wall?? It is a limestone foundation.

Charlie MacPherson · Answer

@Rashad Kennedy The first question to answer is where the water is coming from.

If it's coming from the outside, then fixing drainage will be a big help.  Downspouts with drainage arranged to diver water away from the house will be key.  If it's a fieldstone foundation, you may need hydraulic cement to seal spaces between the stones.

If it coming up from a high water table, consider french drains with a sump pump, or if you're on a slope, a gravity drain.  Also consider a battery-powered backup in case the power fails.

Matthew Paul · Answer

You dont patch a dam from the outside . To do it right you have to dig around foundation , tar , plastic , drain tile and stone , connected to the inside sump pump . Anything on the inside walls will fail in a short time .

Christopher Phillips · Answer

@Rashad Kennedy

Can't really seal limestone from the inside, assuming that's what you have. Sealing limestone from the inside can create more issues down the road because the limestone leaks naturally and water will become trapped between the limestone and whatever you put on it and the sealant will start to fall off or leak.

It's better to tackle the water issue from the outside: Sealing the walls from the outside (lots of digging), making sure water drains away from the house when it rains, proper gutter systems that lead the rain water away from the flower beds.

Sometimes you also have to install a sump system.

Rodney Morris · Answer

What are your plans for the space? looks like the walls have been parged before was this an attempt to stop water? if you are planning to finish it for living space you will be building walls and adding floors i assume. this is a good way to hide the sump system @Christopher Phillips mentioned. as he also mentioned downspouts can be a big factor.

Account Closed · Answer

I agree with @Roger Lee. Wet basements are a huge concern here in western Pennsylvania, and people are generally terrified when they find water leaking into their basement. There is no form of basement construction that is waterproof by design. The problem is never waterproofing one's basement, it's turning a wet basement into a dry basement. With great frequency, a pattern like the one on your wall tends to be water flowing toward the wall instead of away the wall at the surface. With slightly less frequency, it's an outright crack or series of cracks in the wall allowing seepage. Only rarely is it enormous water pressure outside the basement wall forcing water through the walls and into the basement, and this is almost always a product of long-term erosion or poor building.

The first thing you can do will be to set your heart at ease. Stand in the corner and sight along the problem wall to the next corner. Does the wall bow in at or near the center? If it does not, the chances that you have a significant problem are minimal.

Your first remediation is to go outside to look for a slope leading toward a basement, or roof downspouts emptying very near a wall. Change the slope using gravel/crushed stone if necessary, extend the downspout out from the wall where you find problems.If you do that well and the basement continues to look like that, please tell us. A basement like that was built to outlast the structure above it by centuries.

Christie Duffy · Answer

Ditto on the above. And Drylok extreme.

Roger Lee · Answer

@Rashad Kennedy - Charlie is correct, you should figure out where the water is coming from before you spend any money.

One of my basements had water coming in and people were telling me to paint this and install a sump pump, but I actually waiting in the basement during a heavy rain storm and followed the water. It was actually just a bad slope towards the house, so I grabbed a shovel and just dug a path diverting the water away, filled it with some crushed stone and it never happened again. So try to figure out the real cause and weigh your options.

Rashad K. · Answer

@Roger Lee @Christopher Phillips Thank you for your advice

Bridget Smith-Osbourne · Answer

I have a similar problem but it is in my crawl space rather than a basement. I had a crawl space specialist come by and inform me that he could fix the issue at the tune of 12K. That is sealing off all vents with gasketed vent covers,  encapsulating dirt crawl space with 20 mil vapor barrier, sump pump, dehumidifier, airtight crawl space door, etc.

I am rebuilding a quadplex damaged by Hurricane Matthew and do not have it in my budget to spend 12K on unrentable crawl space. At the same time, I would like to solve the problem of my wet crawl space before closing up the floors. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

What product works best?? waterproofing basement walls

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