Best Product to Seal a Block Basement Wall.

[grsthegreat]

Here in idaho, when i sold my rental, the real estate company and title office had a form where i had to declare items that i knew of about property. One item was leaks in basement Or foundation. If you try to cover it up and declair no leaks….i can see future problems. If i were to cover it up and say theres an occasional leak, than i would guess your be ok.

 

[MossRoad]

Here in idaho, when i sold my rental, the real estate company and title office had a form where i had to declare items that i knew of about property. One item was leaks in basement Or foundation. If you try to cover it up and declair no leaks….i can see future problems. If i were to cover it up and say theres an occasional leak, than i would guess your be ok.

Heck, in this housing market, people are selling houses for more than they are appraised with NO pre inspections and AS IS. Yikes!

 

[grsthegreat]

Yup…and this wont bite them in the butt. No one ever remembers the last time this happened. They go and do it again.

 

[Moxie 15]

when selling a house rule number one is always TALK TO A REALTOR. They will tell you what you need to repair and what you need to disclose. Don't go off half cocked doing needless repairs and just be truthful with the realtor and your but is covered. When the buyer applies for the loan the house will be inspected by a professional inspector anyways.

 

[grsthegreat]

when selling a house rule number one is always TALK TO A REALTOR. They will tell you what you need to repair and what you need to disclose. Don't go off half cocked doing needless repairs and just be truthful with the realtor and your but is covered. When the buyer applies for the loan the house will be inspected by a professional inspector anyways.

For what there worth. I used to get reports from home inspectors from a realestate company i worked for as an electrical contractor. Id see some items like coverplates missing in living room. Panel needs labels, etc. just minor stuff. But on one house i went into attic to see about adding fan to a existing light box…and i saw SS fireplace chimney had fallen apart. It was being held inplace by bailing wire. Nothing was on report. I informed new homeowner and he want ballistic. House could have burnt down.

and i would see houses without a single smoke detector…but nothing on report. I guess you get what you pay for.

 

[MossRoad]

My father would inspect homes for HUD as a part-time job. Man, the things he'd find. And, the things he said you couldn't find without tearing into the plaster or drywall. You better not miss anything that's reasonably visible, because if the person paying for the inspection finds that a reasonable and thorough inspector should have caught something, you're toast.

So, they go after the previous home owner, or the builder well before the inspector.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

problem is...this just seals water inside concrete and blocks, eroding away the rebar. this is just surface repairs. you need to remove all backfill from walls, clean and waterproof the actual walls.

i used to do this for a living years ago. i would prep cleaned wall with layer of ThoroSeal grey , then a second layer of ThoroSeal white sealer. then install a layer of Bituthane 1/4" self adhering membrane over a coat of extra adhesive. Then install a 2" Styrofoam protector board to prevent rock damage, add a french drain and install french drain rock.

i did this for many years, and have never had water infiltration.

i did it on my own house 26 years ago for basement. not a whiff of mildew many years later.

i tried to have my buddy that is building a new house do so on his foundation, but hes a lazy sack. he just brushed on some kind of thick waterproof paint, then backfilled without french drains. house is 1 year old....leaks like a sieve. cant fix stupid.

Even more primitive, I used roofing tar and 30 lb. felt over the ThorSeal.

 

[Hay Dude]

One of my first homes had basement leaks. It’s usually the same problem. Incorrectly sloped ground outside with a combination of overflowing gutters and clogged downspouts or downspouts blowing water right down next to foundation wall.

What cured my problem with wet walls involved little work inside. I installed new oversized 3x4 downspouts into 6” PVC that carried the water about 15’ from the house walls. I dug rainwater retention pits 15’ away from foundation, lined with fabric and filled with stone. In the center of the pit, before filling with stone, I placed a vertical perforated PVC pipe with a “T” at the top. My pvc pipe from the downspout runs at a slight fall into the T. Pop up cap on the top.
Never a drop of water after that.
Builder set house too low on the lot.
I dug 4 of them. Took a little while and cost some money, but I had a backhoe so it was easy for me.

Waited another year to make sure everything was thoroughly dry and staying dry, then installed a finished basement gym and playroom for the kids.

 

[RSKY]

The wall that water is sometimes seeping thru was painted with a product called Sta-Dry more than forty years ago. That stopped the leakage until the last five or six years. There is enough moisture coming thru to wet the floor about a foot or 18" away from the wall after a three day heavy rain. It dries up after a couple days. A light rain or anything except a 'gully washer' causes no leaks. The old paint has deteriorated just enough to allow the minor seepage.

ALL basements in this area seep some water. All I want is a suggestion for a product that will stop the seepage without spending a small fortune.

RSKY

 

[Larry Caldwell]

The wall that water is sometimes seeping thru was painted with a product called Sta-Dry more than forty years ago. That stopped the leakage until the last five or six years. There is enough moisture coming thru to wet the floor about a foot or 18" away from the wall after a three day heavy rain. It dries up after a couple days. A light rain or anything except a 'gully washer' causes no leaks. The old paint has deteriorated just enough to allow the minor seepage.

ALL basements in this area seep some water. All I want is a suggestion for a product that will stop the seepage without spending a small fortune.

RSKY

The first place to look for foundation leaks is the roof. Get that water away from the house.

The second place to look for foundation leaks is upslope. If surface runoff is a problem, install a French Drain.

You can dig the exterior of the foundation out and waterproof the exterior where waterproofing belongs. Then install new foundation drainage. I assume this is what you think will cost a small fortune, but moving dirt is not that expensive. Talk to a concrete contractor about how to proceed, since waterproofing is part of any new basement construction. Look for advice specific to your situation. Off the top of my head, pressure washing may get the old concrete clean enough to accept waterproofing, but that would depend on the concrete. The project will also screw up your landscaping

Any of these solutions may require a sump and pump if you don't have natural drainage. Avoid pea gravel. It plugs up and turns worthless. The foundation or French drain should be backfilled with septic drain rock, and the drain line goes at the bottom.