# Waterproofing a Basement... Ideas?



## Fink-Nottle (Feb 25, 2001)

Hello all,

As you may know from previous threads, we're finishing our basement to create some more room for my growing family. The great news is that my daughter Alexandra was born last week and is in perfect health. The terrible news is that our contractor has found signs of moisture coming through our basement walls... efflorescence on the three exterior walls (this is a semidetached home) and a moist spot at the back of our house, near the shared wall. We asked him for options but he has only given us one... $11,000 to excavate and parge and create a system for dealing with the water. Although we had some money allocated to overuns, that is way beyond what we can afford. Is that a reasonable quote? What other options do I have? Is there a company (in the GTA) you recommend and trust for this type of thing?

I'm grateful that my daughter is perfect and my basement is problematic rather than the other way round... but I'd really appreciate any wisdom here.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

About eight years ago, we had a wet wall in the front of our basement. The wall in question was about 16 feet long. 

I invited a group of friends over with their shovels and we hand dug a trench along the wall, two feet out from the foundation and six feet deep. We then filled the trench with course gravel and put topsoil back on the top foot or so.

Is this an option for you?

Never had another drop of water in the basement and it sure didn't cost $11,000 for the beer!


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## SkyHook (Jan 23, 2001)

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## MacNutt (Jan 16, 2002)

If I were going to waterproof a basement, then here's how I would go about it.

You'll need an old washing machine, about a thousand of those big plastic garbage bags,a hand drill with a hole saw attached to it and a gallon of kerosene.

First, clean everything out of the basement. Right down to bare concrete. You'll know why this is so important later on.

Then, place the washing machine dead center in the space you want to waterproof. Remove the metal exterior from the washing machine and leave just the bare chassis and metal drum in place. Using the hand drill and hole saw, make lots and lots of holes in the exterior of the washtub. Leave only enough metal to allow the big metal drum to retain it's basic shape. You should be able to see right through that sucker when your done.

Then, pile all of the plastic bags into the now perforated washdrum. Really pack em in there. Then douse the whole mess with the kerosene and set it alight.

Now this is the fun part....once the plastic bags have been reduced to a big sticky melted ball of liquid plastic goo in the drum, you simply hit "spin dry" on what's left of the washing machines control panel and then RUN LIKE HELL! 

You'll need to move fast. Once the perforated washdrum gets up to full speed, the melted plastic will be flying in all directions at warp velocity....and that stuff sticks like babypoo to a wool blanket.

If you haven't managed to set fire to the place, then you'll have a completely waterproof area once you are done. The texture is really nice as well. Once you've painted the walls some of the designer types will be complementing you on your new "french plaster" and asking you how you did it.

Oh yeah...you will have to cut holes to re-expose any windows or doors. This method works like a darn but it is not selective. It covers everything in a direct line of sight with the whirling washdrum.

Let me know how it goes.


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## autopilot (Dec 2, 2004)

congrats on your new daughter!!


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

Geez, Gerry, toss those meds, they're bad man!


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## MacNutt (Jan 16, 2002)

No meds, Sinc. Just a slightly twisted mind and a do-it-yourself attitude. 

You should see the woodshed I just built. Chrome is soooo cool!


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## KardnalForgotHisPassword (Oct 14, 2004)

I think SINC's solution is the best one mentioned. Additionally, you want to make sure that when you put the topsoil on, it's graded *away* from the house (ie downward slope away). That won't help the current moisture problems, but it'll help prevent them in the future.


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## MacNutt (Jan 16, 2002)

My method is quicker and cheaper.

And as long as you don't burn the house down, it works quite well.


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## bopeep (Jun 7, 2004)

My ex-hubby sprayed all the basement walls with undercoating. 

Stunk for a while, I'm sure Macnutt's solution wouldn't smell so good either. 

Bo


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## MacNutt (Jan 16, 2002)

It's not actually that bad after the flames and smoke die down. And the smell doesn't linger at all.

I usually find that my buddies can make a far worse stink when sitting in the very same basement while drinking beer and watching a hockey game or NASCAR or IHRA dragracing.

Put a bunch of guys in a basement room with a big TV set and SAT TV and a whole bunch of beer and a farting contest is sure to break out. They'll peel the paint off the walls if you leave them there long enough. 

Trust me on this.


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## bopeep (Jun 7, 2004)

I've got 4 dogs that live inside with me. They can let them rip sometimes OMG. Boss, my old man, is now minus 3 feet of intestine, so when the gas hits you need to leave town. 

I wonder if there is a way to utilize the gases for waterproofing [feeble attempt to stay on topic  ]


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## MacNutt (Jan 16, 2002)

I doubt it, Bo...but I have often speculated that a large group of guys in a closed room (together with some dogs and some pizza and beer) could probably power a medium sized natural gas generation plant for a year or so. And light up a small city or two.

I kid you not.


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## bopeep (Jun 7, 2004)

My dogs don't even need the pizza and beer. 

After a long day of work, I'll often have Data in bed with me for a shnuggle. He naps a bit and then wakes up, has a big stretch and pffft. He's all of 30lbs soaking wet and boy can he clear a room.


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## MacNutt (Jan 16, 2002)

My dog...who passed away some years ago...was a Bouvier/Afghan cross. He was friggin HUGE! He wighed 174 lbs at the time of his death. And that was after a lengthy wasting illness. When he was really big and healthy, he could clear a large airplane hanger of people with one small quiff. Strong men and even hard core rigrats would run screaming from his noxious vapors. In a small room he was lethal. For a while he slept in the basement and I used to turn off the furnace because I was worried about a house-levelling methane explosion late in the night, when the pilot light came on.

He was a nitro-powered raw meat eating stinky fur monster. Completely unacceptable in delicate company. Or in public, for that matter. A ravenous drooling neaderthal devil hound.

Man, I miss that dog.


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## SkyHook (Jan 23, 2001)

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## Chris (Feb 8, 2001)

Short of digging up your footings (and since yours is a semi-detached, it makes more sense to do both sides at the same time), re-landscape around the perimiter (as already suggested), and make sure your eavestroughs are in good shape, and draining away from the house. These two steps are very important.

My previous house had concrete walkways on three sides, but we had damp problems in the basement. We couldn't afford to dig up and replace the weeping tiles (although that would have been a good idea), so I damp-proofed from the inside.

I first of all washed down the walls with a strong tsp solution. Next I bought a bucket (18-20 litres) of the UGL damp proofing paint. You can get it at Home Hardware. (BTW they call it waterproof paint, but I wasn't making that assumption!) I then painted, (2 coats) the wall with the UGL. Note that the UGL I used was latex, so smell wasn't a problem.

I then insulated the walls with styrofoam, leaving about six inches uninsulated at the bottom so the footings wouldn't crack (this is an issue in Northern Ontario). Once the insulation was up, I stapled vapour barrier along the sill plate, and let it drape to the floor. I ran a bead of acoustical sealant along the base of the wall so the plastic wouldn't move. I then used 2x2 lumber to make a wall in front of the insulation, and then panelled/drywalled. On the floor, I also laid down a rigid plastic membrane that looked like bubble pack (can't think of the name) and nailed plywood over it.

The following spring, we had a quick thaw, and my house looked like it was on an island in a lake. We were selling it then, and I was very worried about water penetration. Didn't have a drop come in, and the musty smell, common to most basements, was reduced or eliminated. I had also replaced the basement windows as part of this project.

It was a lot of work, but I was able to do it at my own pace, and it cost considerably less than $11,000. You might want to consider something like this initially, before bringing in the excavator.

Of course, MacNutt's suggestion, does have a certain attractive, sticky flair to it, but I suspect that your spouse might not be too enthusiastic about it!

Good luck!


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## SkyHook (Jan 23, 2001)

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## M. Warren (Jan 4, 2002)

Chris said:


> I first of all washed down the walls with a strong tsp solution. Next I bought a bucket (18-20 litres) of the UGL damp proofing paint. You can get it at Home Hardware. (BTW they call it waterproof paint, but I wasn't making that assumption!) I then painted, (2 coats) the wall with the UGL. Note that the UGL I used was latex, so smell wasn't a problem.


Home Depot sells a product called Xypex (I think...X-something at least, its made by U.S.E. Hickson) that is like a waterproofing concrete. If its just moisture coming in, and not actual water, it will suffice. Just be very liberal in the application.



Chris said:


> On the floor, I also laid down a rigid plastic membrane that looked like bubble pack (can't think of the name) and nailed plywood over it.


There's a few different variations of this product. Both Home Depot and Rona/Lansing sell it. The HD brand is called Big-O and is made by System Platten I believe. It can be used both against the exterior foundation or under your subfloor (its purpose it to easily divert water by allow it to flow around its divots). Lansing has a similar model that is thinner and cheaper I believe, but maybe its just intended for against the foundation. 

There's also a product called Dri Core which are premade 2x2 tongue and groove sheets of OSB with the membrane already attached to the underside, which makes the installation a much quicker job, and can also be a better value depending on the size of the basement. 

And of course, proper grading against the wall is always your first defense.


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## MacNutt (Jan 16, 2002)

I still think that the old washing machine/plastic garbage bags/kerosene technique would be the best choice. Also the cheapest.

Anyone else with me on this?


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## Fink-Nottle (Feb 25, 2001)

Thanks for all the advice! Here's the update:

1. When we brought our house we found an awesome house inspector... so I hired him again to assess the moisture damage. He judged that the problem was not that serious and that we could get by adjusting the eavetroughing and perhaps adding some slopes near the walls where possible. If we plan to stay in the house long term, we may want to dig down and parge the walls at one point but there's no urgency. If a leak does develop, it's not that expensive to replace drywall. Obviously, that's just what I wanted to hear.

2. Our contractor came back with a much more reasonable quote. I've told them that we won't be able to decide anything till the first project (the basement renovation) is done.

Thanks again everyone... although I won't be hiring MacNutt anytime soon.

Let me add a plug for our home inpector Terry Carson... I'm not affiliated with him but I wouldn't buy a house in Toronto without getting his opinion first:
http://www.guardianhomeinspectors.com/


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## gastonbuffet (Sep 23, 2004)

WARNING:

MacNutt's method doesn't work if you leave the wooden stairs in place. I just burned my house!!


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