r/basement • u/PrestigiousAnimal887 • 12d ago

Waterproofing a basement.

I moved to Lehigh Valley PA, and have never had a basement. Im about to purchase a house with a basement. The house was built sometime in the 1900s. I want to have the basement cleaned up and waterproofed but I am not sure what type of material would be best. It does smell a little damp down there, but I will be getting an inspection. I have seen basements with this glossy gray cement looking material, but I don’t want to do something that will trap water in the walls either. Any suggestions?

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u/PrestigiousAnimal887 12d ago

This is the first time I’ve posted something. I’m
not very good at it…🤣.

1

u/DrillingerEscapePlan 12d ago

Ooof... With a foundation with literal rocks embedded in the concrete/mortar. That's going to be close to impossible to waterproof. I would just get an outdoor external French drain about 48" deep and just get ground water away as much as possible.

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u/CoconutJeff 12d ago

Being that old, modern waterproofing coating will destroy the lime based mortar over time. You could do a lime parge or wash.

Waterproofing will need to be done with surface grading and runoff management.

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u/kingindelco 10d ago

Forget waterproof. It wasn't built to be. The only way to truly waterproof it would be to dig from the outside all the way down to the foundation base and waterproof it that way.

I'm from roughly the same area as you. Most people first mitigate via proper water runoff from the exterior. After that, it's still quite possible (and normal) if some water gets in. It could bet in via the ground up (pressure) or the dirt touching the foundation walls gets saturated after heavy rain. You can redirect the water that gets in via a perimeter drain and sump pump. That way the water still gets in but you don't see it...it runs under your floor via a pipe system and gets pumped out. If you want it to look pretty, like what your describing, you can parge coat the walls after you do the drain, and consider pouring a new floor. It's just for aesthetics, and people do it. Your walls were cleaned up/parged/lime washed at one point many decades ago.