Liquid Damp Membrane application in Basement

[jsmithchelt]

We're gearing up to apply some 2-part epoxy membrane onto the wall/floor of our basement to shore-up the old waterproofing where it's starting to degrade (been advised that this is worth doing by a few different builders/waterproofing companies, as it's not worth ripping everything out and installing a full 'new' system).

Sorry - not fantastic pictures. But show the old/current black tar on the inside of the brick, areas with some of it missing towards the wall/floor joint and then the floor is concrete with a plastic liner on it, with a bit more concrete on top. Planning to coat on top up to around 1m up the wall and round on the floor to the edge of the tile.

Been looking at this Permaguard stuff which looks good, but says it needs to be applied in a really thin layer. The walls and floor edges are pretty uneven, so I'm thinking that it's worth picking up a tub of waterproof cement and making it a bit more level before I apply - is that a decent plan? Has anyone got any experience of doing anything similar before?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Might work might not, you're literally throwing a coin in the air without a physical barrier system. There are plenty of threads where a non physical barrier system has failed. Phone up the manufacturers and ask then if they will guarantee such a system, they won't. Even the blurb says without an effective dpm under the slab this product will probably be ineffective.

 

[jsmithchelt]

Yeah I think that's fair. We know that we're not going to have a 'system' when we're done and it won't be a permanent fix. It's been the way it is for around 30 years (from what we can tell) and it's generally very warm and dry (driest part of the house, but that's another story!) so just looking to make 'some improvement' while we've got it in this state.