Drylock for Basement
 

Anyone out there use it? My family house in Harwich has cinderblock foundation that is always damp/wet which obviously causes all sorts of other issues with mold/mildew, rust, wood warping etc. My brother and I were thinking of trying it as we are thinking of utylizing the space for a workshop. Any thoughts/comments/advice? Most likely we would install a dehumidfier plugged into our drainpipe near the washer to really bring down the humidity once job is complete.

A cape cod cinder block basement without a dehumidifier is unliveable

You may want to seal the inside walls and floor and outside of foundation so the porosity of the cinderblock for moisture travel is reduced significantly. If the basement is prone to flooding in heavy rain /high water table conditions a french drain (slotted pipe on gravel) around the inside perimeter under the slab is the way to go.... ideally with gravity feed outflow or sump pump if required. We did all of the above to our 1st house and it made the basement very liveable... I had an office down there and the dehumifier was only necessary during the most humid weather

No water, just super damp. Drainage is all away from the house where it can be. In fact we actually have cave crickets that think its a great place to live.

I figure without the drylock type wall covering, a dehumidfier will just keep cycling and pulling more moisture through?

Get the dehumidifier going before you apply the drylock. You want the walls as dry as possible, even if you have to wait for a period of no rain. Adhesion is key. If you have any super wet/damp areas, skim the area with hydraulic cement

you have got to tackle this from the outside first. huge project. dig foundation, maybe apply coat of seal coat by( unilock I think ), then coat it with karnak 920, serious foundation coating. this poop works.

Harwich Paint and Decorating Center - Home

go see these folks, ask for Fran or Paul :uhuh:

they will steer you straight.

Sounds a bit intimidating. I don't live there year round, its going to remain "unfinished" this seems out of my league. The drylock itself is going to be a big enough PIA. Was thinking of doing it late October early November when its fairly dry anyways to just help out the process

lol. I am dealing with this right now. I got the basement pretty dry with 2 dehumidifiers this past week and have only one going now. watered down bleached the crap out of the walls and ceiling too. Seems to have done most of the the trick but needs gutters installed to help out getting the water away from the house but I don't think I am getting any real amount of water in the basement just years of no dehumidifiers being used. If I do need to dig out the outside foundation I will do it as it will be pretty easy digging as it is all sand pretty much and the place is not that big, oh yeah I am a glutton for punishment.

it's overkill from how you described your situation. you cover about 100 square feet with a gallon of UGL, or Tite or any of the drylock type products, and most stand a decent amount of hydraulic pressure...and from what you describe you don't have running water..just a typical CC type "seep".. dehumidifier from now on for sure tho.

I will look into it Karl. Thanks. I had the grumpy one stop by the other day to give me some advise on things.

Paul,

I am not going to attempt this until later in fall, you are the test case - let me know how it goes.

LOL. I am in no hurry to do this yet if you are referring to the digging stuff. I will give the dehumidifiers a chance first and see where that leads me. I got plenty on my plate ahead of that and am willing to give it a chance first and maybe I will get lucky as I said it seems to be much better in just a week and we have got some good rains so far and it hasn't seemed to have made it worse. I am taking a wait and see stance for now.

your up on a small hill...waters draining away ....the basement been closed up way to long with no air moving..kinda like a steam room...fans also help alot too to keep the air moving...lots of vents would help..knock out some blocks/install vents to get some cross venting going....good air in..bad air out...kinda like farting in a car till the window gets rolled down.

PERFECT example :biglaugh:

u guys r the best

I've heard tales that the grumpy one is really a nice guy once he takes off his grumpy suit
Think I might have heard him singing softly between percussion noises of his trade. Something about a magic dragon named Puff.
Then again it could have been the other fella

My story;Bought a house in Orleans 6 yrs ago.The basement is poured concrete[25x25'].The basement was like a tropical rain forest.An elderly couple lived there and never went into the basement at all.1st thing done was place a framed in stormdoor to the bulkhead entrance.Ran a dehumidifier to the sump hole for 6 weeks.i did two coats of white drylok on the walls[applied with a brush not a roller].I run the dehumidifier at 52 on auto. most of the year.this IS my CAVE where all sorts of stuff is done and stored.I have 100s of bucktails,tying feather capes,deerhair hanging on slatboard mounted on the wall,rod building threads,stereo,old record albums,baseball memorobelia,etc.It's very dry and comfortable.In fact the Grump was over couple of weeks ago HOing some feathers for plugs.Also he built a rod bench for me 16yrs ago and it's one of the ones in the cellar no warping of any wood items.I'd post pictures but I'm not that savvy on the "magic box".You're welcome to come over and see for youself.

Thats more then a cave...it's better then most tackle shops on this sand spit.:) friendly too surves up dang good coffee.

saltfly, ya done good, and drylock should never be rolled, won't work, gots ta brush it in, for it to do it's job..PIA, but the onliest way.

drove by your place this after, ya had the shed doors wide.. I think ya need a few more buoys on that.. :wave:

Did you wash the walls down so the stuff will stick?
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I'd try A H Harris for the material and if you find the right guy a recommendation. The salesman here in VT is very knowledgeable, don't know the guys in Mass.

The best you can hope for is to wire brush off the loose scale..good vac job and brush on a mix of top brand laytex paint with mixed in portland cement and a throw in a splash of lime ....after all,drylock is nothing but those 3...put the fans to it to help dry it out an bob's your uncle.

No Paul...I didn't have any scale[white powder] on the walls so it was just brush it on.It has the consistancy of pancake batter so once I figured that it would take time I just slowed down and plodded along.the 1st coat sucked into the concrete well.i waited a day and did the second coat and it went on quicker.Nothing has pealed or loosened anywhere..Karl,yesterday was work in the shed building a roller dolly for a file cabinet that was given to me for the Cave.It actually came out right the 1st time.Today acouple of those bouys are being cut up for popper bodys[flyrod] so I'll be out there sawing away watching the cars line up for the intersection.

i have used dry lock in my basement for what it is and what it does,it does work.follow the instructions on the can clean the walls and you should be good to go.
if there is a constant wetness it turns into gooo(likie a slow running faucet)also it will bubble and pool where there is a leak.
based on what you describe it sounds like you may benefit from an application.give it a shot,if not start digging