Hello helpful people. I'm trying to fix a fun issue in my basement and need your help.
When renovating down in the basement, the builder excavated the flooring, put down the waterproof membrane then poured the slab. In the 6 months following the build, the soft furnishings started going mouldy, particularly in one corner. So I rolled back the carpet and removed the skirting to investigate.
In the following two photos you can see the edge of one wall as it is now - with and without the membrane held up.
Picture 1 - length of wall edge:
Picture 2 - Some of membrane lifted to show gripper rods:
The skirting has been off for two months. Although the wall is up against earth floor to ceiling, there is no dripping, leaks or puddling etc. Just a lingering cold damp on the old edging bricks on the outside of the membrane.
The damp primarily came into the basement at corner in the following photo (you can see the discoloured corner of the gripper rods). And I think it was simply because the builder/chippy cut the membrane right down so be able to fit the skirting boards:
Picture 3 - the corner where the membrane is cut:
I think the main issue is that water slowly came in at the far corner (there's a screw going through the damp-proofing paint) and tracked around the edge of the wall until it got to the cut membrane - at which point the damp seeped into the room. Nothing seems to be coming down the wall at all.
I do not want to do full tanking of the whole wall - just fix the current issue as I think that will be enough.
So far I have cleaned up, wire-brushed and vacuumed. So the questions I have are:
1) How can I fix the membrane? Can I patch repair it to fix where it's been cut?
2) How should I treat the wall, treat along the wall-floor joint and treat the old bricks the 'wet side' of the membrane?
3) Can I use the things I've bought so far or do I need other things? I have the following: "Sikabond SBR+" , "Bostik Damp Proofer and Waterproofer", "KA Fillet Seal" (picture below) and two bags of "SIKA Damp-proofing slurry"
My plan was to paint pure SBR+ onto those old bricks and slightly up the wall. Then mix up some of the fillet seal and trowel that behind the membrane. Any thoughts? Do I need another membrane?
Any help greatly appreciated as I want to get this done in the next few days. Thanks v much.
When renovating down in the basement, the builder excavated the flooring, put down the waterproof membrane then poured the slab. In the 6 months following the build, the soft furnishings started going mouldy, particularly in one corner. So I rolled back the carpet and removed the skirting to investigate.
In the following two photos you can see the edge of one wall as it is now - with and without the membrane held up.
Picture 1 - length of wall edge:
Picture 2 - Some of membrane lifted to show gripper rods:
The skirting has been off for two months. Although the wall is up against earth floor to ceiling, there is no dripping, leaks or puddling etc. Just a lingering cold damp on the old edging bricks on the outside of the membrane.
The damp primarily came into the basement at corner in the following photo (you can see the discoloured corner of the gripper rods). And I think it was simply because the builder/chippy cut the membrane right down so be able to fit the skirting boards:
Picture 3 - the corner where the membrane is cut:
I think the main issue is that water slowly came in at the far corner (there's a screw going through the damp-proofing paint) and tracked around the edge of the wall until it got to the cut membrane - at which point the damp seeped into the room. Nothing seems to be coming down the wall at all.
I do not want to do full tanking of the whole wall - just fix the current issue as I think that will be enough.
So far I have cleaned up, wire-brushed and vacuumed. So the questions I have are:
1) How can I fix the membrane? Can I patch repair it to fix where it's been cut?
2) How should I treat the wall, treat along the wall-floor joint and treat the old bricks the 'wet side' of the membrane?
3) Can I use the things I've bought so far or do I need other things? I have the following: "Sikabond SBR+" , "Bostik Damp Proofer and Waterproofer", "KA Fillet Seal" (picture below) and two bags of "SIKA Damp-proofing slurry"
My plan was to paint pure SBR+ onto those old bricks and slightly up the wall. Then mix up some of the fillet seal and trowel that behind the membrane. Any thoughts? Do I need another membrane?
Any help greatly appreciated as I want to get this done in the next few days. Thanks v much.
