KasperCurmudgeon
New Member
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2013
- Messages
- 4
- Reaction score
- 0
Hi all,
I'm getting ready to re-remodel my basement.
I've got a lot of rusted masonry nails and loose mortar joints in my cinder block basement walls. The nails used to hold nailers to the wall for paneling. But over a couple decades the dirt and patio slabs around the foundation settled and pitched toward the house, and water permeated the walls and rusted the nails. The paneling and previous finishing has been removed/gutted now due to a flood a few years back. That's when the signs of years of moisture damage, due to water trapped behind paneling & plastic sheeting, became apparent. I think I've fixed the main water issues by re-pitching the dirt around the foundation and running eaves tile out to a ditch.
NAILS:
I want to get rid of these nails and paint the walls, but when I yank with a hammer, some bust out the bricks or mortar. When I consider grinding them off, and although I think I've mostly fixed my water problem, I worry that they'll just keep rusting and expanding and maybe causing cracking/bustouts anyway. Also, if I leave the walls exposed but painted and the nails rust through the paint, that wouldn't be great.
MORTAR JOINTS:
As seen in the photos, there are loose mortar joints. I don't know if these need to be repointed before painting? Or is it good enough to squirt masonry caulk in there? Or something else?
The reason I'm not wanting to repoint if unnecessary is because I've just spent a couple months cleaning and vacuuming all the concrete/brick dust off everything in the basement from a perimeter tile and egress window project, it gets old to create a ton of dust and then clean it all up.
Any thoughts?
For larger image files: http://s73.photobucket.com/user/bunda3/slideshow/Basement
I'm getting ready to re-remodel my basement.
I've got a lot of rusted masonry nails and loose mortar joints in my cinder block basement walls. The nails used to hold nailers to the wall for paneling. But over a couple decades the dirt and patio slabs around the foundation settled and pitched toward the house, and water permeated the walls and rusted the nails. The paneling and previous finishing has been removed/gutted now due to a flood a few years back. That's when the signs of years of moisture damage, due to water trapped behind paneling & plastic sheeting, became apparent. I think I've fixed the main water issues by re-pitching the dirt around the foundation and running eaves tile out to a ditch.
NAILS:
I want to get rid of these nails and paint the walls, but when I yank with a hammer, some bust out the bricks or mortar. When I consider grinding them off, and although I think I've mostly fixed my water problem, I worry that they'll just keep rusting and expanding and maybe causing cracking/bustouts anyway. Also, if I leave the walls exposed but painted and the nails rust through the paint, that wouldn't be great.
MORTAR JOINTS:
As seen in the photos, there are loose mortar joints. I don't know if these need to be repointed before painting? Or is it good enough to squirt masonry caulk in there? Or something else?
The reason I'm not wanting to repoint if unnecessary is because I've just spent a couple months cleaning and vacuuming all the concrete/brick dust off everything in the basement from a perimeter tile and egress window project, it gets old to create a ton of dust and then clean it all up.
Any thoughts?
For larger image files: http://s73.photobucket.com/user/bunda3/slideshow/Basement