Basement Concrete Painting/Sealing?

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FixrUppr

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Hi guys - I've got a couple different types of mold in my basement (pic).

I have one dehumidifier but it may not be enough - I'm going to look up the model number and find out how many square feet it's supposed to be good for and possibly get another one.

My question is mostly about the flooring - whatever the previous owners painted on the concrete floor is rubbing off. I'm assuming it was some sort of basement-sealing paint. I've been looking around a bit and really like the epoxy floor sealing treatments (https://armorpoxy.com/interior/basements/). Anybody have any experience with this stuff? Is it something that would have to be professionally done? Seems like it would work a lot better and last a lot longer than just a coat or two of 'waterproof' paint.

I also found a DryLok option that specifically says it's for concrete floors, but I'm not seeing any prep instructions.

Or this stuff (SEAL-KRETE® | How To Waterproof A Basement) but it says prep includes removing efflorescence?? By scrubbing with a wire brush and some sort of acid? Followed by neutralization? Would I have to do all of that no matter what type of paint I put down?

And all around the base of the walls there is this hard plastic 'lining' (see pic)! What is this? It's not seamless (as you can tell in the pic) so it's not gonna keep water out! In fact, the folds just look like the perfect spot for moisture to collect! Especially between the plastic and the wall! I probably can't remove it, though - just paint over/around/behind it?

Let me know your thoughts! Thanks!

Cynthia :)
 

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The hard plastic looks like some one did a major repair to deal with water.
Do you have a sump and pump in the basement.
 
Yes - I know that a previous owner had a lot of something done! Lol! But I don't really know what all was done except that a sump pump was put in (so yes - I have a sump pump).

The pics you added must be exactly what I have! But what is that supposed to do? That would only keep water from coming up like 1" just around the perimeter of the floor! It wouldn't keep anything from coming through the walls or up through 98% of the floor! That looks really dumb to me!

So would you just repaint the floor and walls with a new coat of Kilz waterproof paint or something? Does all of the old paint have to be scraped completely off somehow first??

Cynthia :)
 
Yes - I know that a previous owner had a lot of something done! Lol! But I don't really know what all was done except that a sump pump was put in (so yes - I have a sump pump).

The pics you added must be exactly what I have! But what is that supposed to do? That would only keep water from coming up like 1" just around the perimeter of the floor! It wouldn't keep anything from coming through the walls or up through 98% of the floor! That looks really dumb to me!

So would you just repaint the floor and walls with a new coat of Kilz waterproof paint or something? Does all of the old paint have to be scraped completely off somehow first??

Cynthia :)
So I want to talk about the system and let others talk about paint on the floor, because I don't think you will ever win with paint ton the floor.

The previous owners had a flooding problem, likely the block wall was filling with water and leaking out the bottom on the floor.
To fix that they had two choices 1. dig around the outside of the house to the depth of the wall and waterproof it and re and re the drain tile around the footing.
2. Dig up the floor on the inside 12 to 18" from the wall add a drain tile around the interior of the perimeter and drain that into a sump. They also drill holes in the bottom of the block wall so the water can drain behind that plastic and under the floor.
2. A is the part they didn't do, so now what is happening. Water is still entering the block wall and that water will drain to the bottom but some will wick thru the wall to the inside and evaporate into the room. There is also an open hole behind that plastic right down to where the water is which can also evaporate and make it up into the room
What they didn't do is hang a water proof plastic sheet sealed to the top of the wall and tucked in and taped at the bottom so all of the moisture would be sealed from the room. These walls are covered with 10 mil poly $05.jpg
 
Ah - gotcha! So is that poly wall liner something that could be added now? How expensive would that be and would it help significantly?

Surprisingly the floor paint is actually in really good condition except for a few areas. Could I just re-paint those small areas with some Kilz or something - knowing that it would probably have to be re-done every few years?

Cynthia
 
Painting an old basement is not a good idea. Painting an old basement that has moisture issues is a particularly bad idea. You are fighting a losing battle. Most plastics don't hold paint very well, so painting the plastic would also be a bad idea.
 
Yeah - I'm learning that the previous owners got taken on a LOT of stuff and apparently the basement work is no exception.

So with that plastic wall lining stuff, doesn't mold just grow *behind* it? Is that okay, though, since it's supposed to be 'sealed' at the ceiling and at the floor?

Can the plastic lining stuff be put on the floor too? Does it block radon, by chance? My radon level was just a touch high when I tested it a year ago . . .

Cynthia
 
You could talk to some one like this. explain what you want to do. they deal with these products.
https://www.americover.com/heavy_du...9,filter_id_31=31|39,pageGroup=1,pageNumber=1
If radon is there, right now it can cup up around the basement but really it doesn't stop at concrete.
I think you could have someone work a system for that, that would work with your sump and use the drain you have to collect it.
 
Ok . . . officially time to call in the professionals. Was so hoping it wouldn't come to that ($$$$) but it has to be done. Thanks for all your input! Fingers crossed!

Cynthia
 
Ok one more question - part of the basement is 'finished' with carpet and that fake-wood paneling . . . some of the paneling has white splotches on it that I assume are mold - so there is probably mold behind the paneling then right? So should I pull all that down (and get rid of the carpet) and get back to the original foundation cement blocks to get rid of as much mold and as much dark/moist-trapping space as possible? And then it can ALL be plastic-lined?

Leaving the carpet and paneling down there just sounds like an invitation for mold to stay around - even *with* a heavy duty dehumidifier (thinking about this one, by the way - thoughts? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073V9MG3Y/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20) . . .

Cynthia
 
I see where Neal's already mentioned about how important it is to address this from the outside whenever possible.
Why deal with this on the inside if you can prevent it from every getting in there in the first place?
Even simple things like, working gutters with downspouts leading away from the foundation, no mulch piled up against the foundation, no flower bed borders forming ponds.
In some cases a french drain and sealing the outside of the foundation is called for.
 
Most of the outside stuff *is* pretty well taken care of, believe it or not.

The house sits high on the property, gutter drains are connected and run all the way out to the street, there's no dirt or mulch or anything piled around the foundation, etc. Previous owners even put in two dry wells in the far back part of the yard. I've got rain barrels around the garage that collect water from the garage gutters and then I empty them once things dry out some.

Most of the problem is literally the area - the entire development was basically built on a clay-bed swamp. Seriously. My neighbors are the original owners of their house and they've told me all about how every single house up and down the street used to flood and that the back yards all used to have a stream that ran down the fence line. Everybody has sump pumps and dehumidifiers, etc. The back quarter of my back yard floods about 3 inches even with a light rain and doesn't drain for a couple days.

I know the ideal solution is digging out around the entire foundation and sealing it from the outside, but $15,000 is totally out of the question. Plus the way mine and my neighbor's driveways are positioned, they would probably have to be dug up and re-layed so it would probably be like $20,000. Any chance home insurance would pay for any of that? Without insurance rates hitting the roof?

I could put a French drain on one side of the house, but not the other (where the driveway is). But it could only be like a foot wide and would have to run all the way out to the street. The fact that I have as little moisture/mold as I do is a miracle, actually!

Cynthia
 
I see where Neal's already mentioned about how important it is to address this from the outside whenever possible.
Why deal with this on the inside if you can prevent it from every getting in there in the first place?
Even simple things like, working gutters with downspouts leading away from the foundation, no mulch piled up against the foundation, no flower bed borders forming ponds.
In some cases a french drain and sealing the outside of the foundation is called for.
The interior drain is already there, they just never hung the curtain to direct the water down to the drain.
 
So part of the basement is 'finished' with carpet and that fake-wood paneling . . . some of the paneling has white splotches on it that I assume are mold - so there is probably mold behind the paneling then right? So should I pull all that down (and get rid of the carpet) and get back to the original foundation cement blocks to get rid of as much mold and as much dark/moist-trapping space as possible? And then it can ALL be plastic-lined?

Leaving the carpet and paneling down there just sounds like an invitation for mold to stay around - even *with* a heavy duty dehumidifier (thinking about this one, by the way - thoughts? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073V9MG3Y/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20) . . .

Cynthia
 
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