26 - Friday, August 5, 1988 - North Shore New

FESTYLES

Fiere is first aid for
your damp basement

ARE YOU bothered with leaks or
seepage through your basement
wall or floors?

If so, both problems can be
solved. However, they are not the
easiest jobs in the world and some-
times finding the solution can be a
long and frustrating process.

The first thing to do is to look
outside the leaking wall and sce if
there is an obvious reason for the
leak. Does a sidewalk or driveway
slope down toward the house wall?

Is there a downspout in the im-
mediate area that is channelling
water toward the leaking spot? Is
there a slope to the back yard that
invites water to rest against the
house?

These are all situations that can
cause water to find its way into
your basement. Incidentally, water
has a strange way of finding an
opening sometimes yards away
from what would seem to be the
other problem spot.

In other words, if the walk
slopes in toward your house three
yards up from your basement, do
not discount that as the cause of
the problem.

The first step is to closely inspect
the exterior of the house and cor-
rect all of the above-mentioned
situations when they appear.

Another thing to look for is ex-
terior waterproofing on the base-
ment walls. This black, tar-like

coating should extend up the wall
well above ground level.

If this is not the case, water can
seep into the concrete or block and
seep down to enter the house at a
lower level. This material is not

expensive and is easy to apply, but
the tough part is digging away the
soil from the house wail in order to
apply a new coating.

If all the exterior problems seem
to be fixed you can look inside.
This may be the most difficult
problem to fix.

You may want to re-cover the
basement walls. There are many
cement-like wall coatings on the
market. These products will pre-
vent minor seepage but will be of
no value if there are cracks or
holes in your basement walls.

Often these cracks do not appear
until several years after the house
is built and are usually due to settl-
ing of the surface rather than poor
workmanship. If you have a large
crack in the wall, the first thing to
do is to enlarge it.

Undercut the edges of the crack
so that the patching compound
you use will have something to cl-
ing to. There are many epoxy and
latex cement products on the mar-
ket that are excellent for this job.

Your local hardware dealer will
be able to advise you on which
product will best fill the bill for
your problem.

Once all the holes and cracks
have been filled in this manner you
may want to apply one of the
waterproofing paints that are now
available in a wide range of colors.
Many are available in dry form
and have to be mixed with water

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before application while others are
applied directly from the can.

To be successful, a membrane of
waterproof material must be ap-
plied to the inside wall without
flaws or faults. Therefore do not
try and save materials by spreading
it out thin.

Hf the instructions say that a
package covers 30 sq.ft., that is
exactly what you should cover with
that amount of material.

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