How To Seal Old Concrete Basement Walls
Use an epoxy injection system for basement wall crack repair.
How to seal old concrete basement walls. The cement will expand inside the fissures and create a water tight seal. Only apply the sealer to basement walls that are bare concrete or brick. If the floor joists are sagging or there s ductwork in the way you may have to lift the top of the wall in first and slide the bottom plate into place. Concrete walls sometimes only leak periodically such as after a hard rain or during snow melts.
On unpainted concrete surfaces proper preparation includes washing with trisodium phosphate tsp. There are several steps to internal waterproofing the first of which involves sealing cracks and holes in the concrete walls of your foundation with hydraulic cement. We repaired a foundation wall which had an 8 ft long crack that leaked water into the basement during periods of heavy rainfall. If the floor joists are sagging or there s ductwork in the way you may have to lift the top of the wall in first and slide the bottom plate into place.
Tip a wall up with the bottom plate against the wall. To permanently patch the crack we used an epoxy injection system from polygem called the liquid concrete repair kit 60. Apply the sealer to the basement walls using a brush roller or garden type sprayer. If you or a previous owner painted the basement walls you ll have to remove the paint before applying sealer which only adheres well.
This will get your basement walls and floor ready for application of your coating. Coat the basement walls with the sealer as recommended by the manufacturer. While community building rules differ in general you will not need a permit just to seal or paint the concrete basement walls. How to seal a leaking concrete wall.
Tip up the walls. However some walls gush water through openings in the concrete. Do not apply a sealer over painted surfaces because the sealer will not penetrate properly. If you re going to build new walls inside the existing concrete.
Don t apply sealer over painted walls or efflorescence. The randonseal plus deep penetrating concrete sealer seals the concrete against basement moisture by penetrating up to 4 inches and internally sealing the concrete it blocks the micro pores and capillaries to prevent water vapor water spillage radon gas and efflorescence directly through the basement floor or walls.