Basements are large open areas that are the perfect place to add extra rooms to a house. You can have a family room down there, guest bedrooms, a home gym, or even a home theatre. No matter what you choose for a basement design plan, sometimes they can be very damp and humid places, so in order to ensure that you have a dry basement you will want to be sure to seal it properly before remodeling. Leaky basements can be a hassle to constantly have to clean up and can sometimes even damage personal items. Water sealing basements will prevent damage to your house as well as keeping you from wasting time cleaning up leaks. Basement sealing is not a hard task and can be done on your own or by the help of a professional. This article outlines the basic steps necessary on how to stop water from leaking into the basement and keep it dry.
When waterproofing a basement you first want to check the ground level outside of your house. You want to make sure that the ground surrounding your basement does not slope towards the foundation, but slopes away from it; this is important so that water does not collect near your house and come into the basement. If the ground is slopes away from the foundation excess water will not accumulate near the house and sink in through the ground making your basement wet. Another thing you will want to check is to ensure that your gutters are clean and the downspouts are not too close to the house. The gutters around your house collect a lot of rainwater, so clogged gutters can result in excess water building up on the edges of the house. If you remember to clean your gutters regularly it will ensure that water doesnt puddle around the house. An additional method to keep water from accumulating around the foundation and leaking into the finished basement is to have your downspouts discharging at least five feet away from the foundation.
This can easily be done by adding extensions to your downspouts that direct the water away from your house; these extensions can be purchased at your local home improvement store. After you have taken the necessary steps to seal your basement on the exterior, you will then want to examine the floors and walls for any cracks in the concrete and repair them. Sealing wall cracks in the basement is an important step to do because basement concrete can have cracks in them that extend all the way through to the outside of your house, which can result in water coming into your home, making your basement wet. You can repair cracks with the best concrete paint by using products such as hydraulic cement fillers or injecting construction-grade epoxy to fill them. You can purchase both these items at your local home improvement store; however, sometimes getting help from a professional is a good choice for this kind of repair for cement waterproofing to ensure that everything is properly sealed to keep your basement dry.
Once the cracks in the floors and walls are repaired you can move onto the next step in sealing concrete floors which is applying waterproof paint. Waterproof paint for concrete floors can also be purchased at a local home improvement store and comes in a variety of different colors to choose from, making it easy to keep your basement dry. Depending on the type, waterproofing paint can either work as a waterproof concrete on the surface of the existing concrete wall or floor, or the paint can work by expanding as it dries to become a part of the surface. This type of wall paint is made of an epoxy or rustoleum paint base that can also be used in garages, basements, driveways, pool areas, and patios. Epoxy-based paint acts as a water seal to the concrete, preventing any water damage from occurring. Waterproofing the basement walls and floor with paint is an easy way to prevent your basement from being wet and damp. You can either do this task on your own or hire professional painters to paint basements.
Learning how to seal a basement wall or floor is not difficult; you can consult your local home improvement store for advice or look online for video tutorials. You can also get professional expert advice on the best concrete floor sealers to buy to ensure that you have the highest quality paint that will work effectively.
Another way to determine what product will work well is to ask about the most popular concrete sealant in 2022 to see what others have purchase. When you finish laying out and painting the basement floor and walls with the waterproof paint you will be able to relax and avoid worrying about any water damage from occurring. A basement water sealant is the perfect way to easily waterproof your basement on your own. Wet basements are the last thing you want when renovating your house, so it is important to ensure to waterproof your basement before any remodeling is performed.
