If you’re looking for information on Waterproofing Basement Walls, this has it all.

When you are finishing a basement, waterproofing basement walls is a useful thing to do. Most basements have high moisture levels, and much of the moisture enters via the basement walls. Cracks, leaking windows and pipe condensation are probably the most common reasons basements have water build-up problems. A great deal of problems can be created from too much water or long term water retention in the basement.

Basement Wall Options

There are numerous ways of waterproofing basement walls and these include:

- French Drains
- Hollow Baseboard Molding
- Sump Pumps
- Waterproofing
- Damp Proofing

French Drains – An exterior system running the perimeter or partial perimeter of your house for heavy rain run off drainage, or an interior system if water is coming into your basement through the floors or cove between the floor and the wall. A trench is dug round the inside perimeter of the wet basement floor. A pierced plastic drain tile pipe is placed and encircled by stones and pebbles. When trying to recement the floor over a French drain system, some repair and waterproofing contractors leave a gap that can be one to two inches in the floor to allow the web wall seppage to dair below the floor. Sump pumps are used in French drainage systems.

Hollow Baseboard Molding and Cove Systems – A hollow baseboard channel is adhered to the joint where the floor meets the wall using a waterproof epoxy. This empty molding will gather wet wall seepage as well as fluid which rises at the cove region. More often than not, linked to a sump pump.

A sump pump is placed in a tub that sits under the floor of your lower lever. The sump pumps through perforations in the sump well located close to it, can collect underground water. A good way of draining excess water from a basement floor or from any underground drainage pipes that you might have is to utilise a sump pump.

Wall Sealers – Varieties include spray applied basement wall sealers, brush or roller applied basement waterproofing sealers, or panel type basement waterproofing sealers for wet basement walls.

In reality a good drainage system cannot guarantee dry basement walls. Lets look at damp proofing and waterproofing as these are the cheapest and easiest methods of stopping moisture getting into your basement through the walls.

What is Damp Proofing?

You may be asking yourself what is involved in damp proofing your basement and the best example I can give of damp proofing would be to think of a castle with a moat and think about how to keep the water away from this castle; first you build the permiable pallette layer where you want the castle floor, then you would place a solid layer over that, then you would leave a vent space and lay your foundation; as for your walls, you would build your walls, then do your solid layer and then your permiable layer, and now you have damp proofed your castle.

Damp proofing products are typically a tar based material in a solvent base.  They are cheap to apply but their effectiveness is limited because they are only to designed to ‘retard’ moisture penetration, not prevent it.  The main problem is that it becomes brittle once it cures and as the foundation settles and hairline cracks appear, the tar based coating will not stretch to bridge the cracks and this allows moisture to penetrate into the basement.

Find out the meaning of waterproofing.

Products used for waterproofing underground areas, such as a basement, are only designed to prevent water from penetrating the walls especially after heavy rains or spring thaws; but, if you have underground water from a source such as a spring you may need to install a sump pump to prevent water from entering your basement from under the floor.  The rubber used in Advanced Water Proofing Technologies products provides superior waterproofing protection and allows the product to remain flexible even after drying.  How you will stretch the foundation to settle the flexibility of waterproofing

Application instructions

Clearly waterproofing is a better option and since there is not a huge price difference between that and damp proofing, it seems a more sensible long term  choice, especially when it often has a 25 to 30-year guarantee.

In the earlier days builders often did not consider waterproofing the basement walls as important. So now is your chance to rectify that with simple-to-use products. Even if you are not a professional you will find that our products are easily applied and not harmful.   They come ready to use in for example, 5 gallon pails or 55 gallon drums and do not require heating or special application equipment – anyone who can use a brush or roller can apply them.  Commercial airless sprayers can be rented by the day to waterproof basement walls.  In 2 or 3 hours, a couple people using rollers can waterproof an average-size basement (about 1,000 square feet) without difficulty. So get to it and start enjoying all that space without the damp.