Hello folks,
I'm currently hoping to damp proof my basement to use it as a living room and I'm wondering if anyone could give me any pointers of which method to use.
Basically the basement is in an old sandstone house and used to be used as a coal cellar and then a bedroom when my grandparents tanked the walls (I think with some kind of cement and waterproof paint). The room has been reasonably dry but over the last 5 - 10 years has become more damp and although there's no water it does ruin furniture and anything in there for too long!
The basement has 2 walls which have the dampness problem, both of which are either fully or partially underground and on the external walls.
I think I have three options:
1. I cement tank the walls with Vandex, Sika or another one I found called Permaguard or similar and follow up with renovating plaster. The walls have been previously cement tanked as in the pictures but it seems to have failed and dampness seeps through. With this method I worry about trapping moisture inside the old sandstone bricks, is this a problem, wont they disintegrate?
2. Lime plaster the walls with a few coats, lime wash the walls, buy a dehumidifier and "let it all breathe". My worry here is will the room actually be dry and will the dehumidifier need to be run 24/7.
3. Membrane the walls. The floors are already raised on 4inch high studs which I *think* have concrete and plastic sheets underneath but I'm put off by having to basically somehow drain the channel outside the house and I don't want to use a pump as the room will be a living room.
So the question is: Which of the above three methods is the correct or best method, which is easiest and can it be done DIY, and most importantly which will cause no damage to the basement walls themselves. Also should I, and is it safe, to remove the current cement tanking without the wall collapsing or something insane like that!
Sorry its a long post, thanks for reading and thanks for any replies... especially interested if people have had any experience of these methods themselves. Thanks for any replies, even if anyone has some detailed guides relating to this job on sandstone walls!
The worst part of the wall for damp, salt deposits (efflorescence), concrete tanking here is actually very smooth!
A part of the corner where I removed the tanking to see what was underneath, seems like 1 layer of cement (2 around the doorway). There's possibly a very thin second layer of cement for the main wall area. Sandstone exterior wall is kinda damp but seems in decent condition.
The wall as a whole, some areas are bulged either because of poor cement laying, blown tanking, or uneven sandstone bricks behind.
I'm currently hoping to damp proof my basement to use it as a living room and I'm wondering if anyone could give me any pointers of which method to use.
Basically the basement is in an old sandstone house and used to be used as a coal cellar and then a bedroom when my grandparents tanked the walls (I think with some kind of cement and waterproof paint). The room has been reasonably dry but over the last 5 - 10 years has become more damp and although there's no water it does ruin furniture and anything in there for too long!
The basement has 2 walls which have the dampness problem, both of which are either fully or partially underground and on the external walls.
I think I have three options:
1. I cement tank the walls with Vandex, Sika or another one I found called Permaguard or similar and follow up with renovating plaster. The walls have been previously cement tanked as in the pictures but it seems to have failed and dampness seeps through. With this method I worry about trapping moisture inside the old sandstone bricks, is this a problem, wont they disintegrate?
2. Lime plaster the walls with a few coats, lime wash the walls, buy a dehumidifier and "let it all breathe". My worry here is will the room actually be dry and will the dehumidifier need to be run 24/7.
3. Membrane the walls. The floors are already raised on 4inch high studs which I *think* have concrete and plastic sheets underneath but I'm put off by having to basically somehow drain the channel outside the house and I don't want to use a pump as the room will be a living room.
So the question is: Which of the above three methods is the correct or best method, which is easiest and can it be done DIY, and most importantly which will cause no damage to the basement walls themselves. Also should I, and is it safe, to remove the current cement tanking without the wall collapsing or something insane like that!
Sorry its a long post, thanks for reading and thanks for any replies... especially interested if people have had any experience of these methods themselves. Thanks for any replies, even if anyone has some detailed guides relating to this job on sandstone walls!
The worst part of the wall for damp, salt deposits (efflorescence), concrete tanking here is actually very smooth!
A part of the corner where I removed the tanking to see what was underneath, seems like 1 layer of cement (2 around the doorway). There's possibly a very thin second layer of cement for the main wall area. Sandstone exterior wall is kinda damp but seems in decent condition.
The wall as a whole, some areas are bulged either because of poor cement laying, blown tanking, or uneven sandstone bricks behind.
