Home & Garden Maintenance & Repairs

Waterproofing In Basement System

In setting up effective waterproofing in basement system, majority of cases show that pressure from the exterior of the house causes water to seep through the floor joint or the area where the basement wall meets the basement flooring.

Since the walls and floor are not seamlessly joined, water can easily pass through the narrow gap between the floor and walls. If the flooding is continuous, you may want to install a temporary weep pipe to help collect and divert any water that may have accumulated in your basement wall.

Once excess water has been drained, it's time pack the affected area with a sealant. You can use an epoxy sealant, a liquid membrane, or even mortar to fill and repair a leaking floor joint. For effective waterproofing basement system, here are the steps:

1.Before applying the sealant or mortar, clean the area thoroughly. Remove molds or any other debris that may have accumulated near the affected area.

2.If the floor joint is free of water (i.e. excess water has already been drained), you can apply the waterproofing mixture or mortar directly onto it. Cover the entire area with the waterproofing mixture and pat with a narrow trowel.

Pack the area tightly with mortar/sealant to ensure that water will be unable to break through the sealant. If there is too much air space between the mortar/sealant and the affected floor area, water will pass through and your basement can become flooded again. In the event that there is still some water flow from the exterior of the house, proceed to step three.

3.What if water is still flowing through the damaged floor area? In such cases, you need to create a dovetail groove before applying any waterproofing mixture or mortar to the floor joint. Since there is extra water pressure, there must be a strong holding cavity for the filling material so it will not be pushed off by the water when it dries.

Before applying the waterproof mixture, make a dovetail groove.

4. An entire cavity or dovetail groove must be created and cleaned out before you can apply the waterproof mixture. It might take longer if you do it this way but trust me, you won't have to redo the repair again because you did correctly the first time.

5.If you are using mortar, use a ratio of 2:1 for filling floor joint areas. Any trowel can be used for filling problematic floor areas. Carefully estimate the amount of mortar that you will need to fill the dovetail groove and pack in the filling material with your trowel. Once the dovetail groove has been filled, stop. There is no need to add more than one cavity's worth of cement or waterproofing mixture.

6. As a final touch to your repair work, make a slight slope in the mortar or sealant that you have added. Fashion the slope in such a way that it actually goes against the wall. This will make the repaired area even more resistant to water.

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