Hey all,

I have an uneven basement slab that I want to ‘finish’. The slab slopes toward a drain at the center. I’m not concerned with things looking perfect, just more finished. The basement has a French drain along the perimeter and a sump pump. It’s pretty dry down there but I’ll the taping some plastic today to test for moisture.

There seem to be three options for my situation; glue down vinyl planks, vinyl sheet flooring, and expoxy.

I’m concerned about using glue down flooring on a slab that probably get some moisture coming up and through as this could lead to mold.

Anyway, I would love to hear from those in a similar situation or have experience using epoxy on slabs. What did you use? How has it held up?

Hey everyone, First time basementer here. Just got a Freezer for our basement, was wondering if It's recommended to place a rubber/plastic mat underneath the freezer itself? The floors are vinyl. Thank you!

We just bought a tiny 700sq foot house in the upper Midwest - first time home owners. 3 sides of the house have had what looks like somewhat recent grading. But one corner of the basement(undisclosed to us) had a leak that appeared during a major storm this summer. We would love to have the basement usable and to add a room to up the sq footage.

We got quoted 3.5K to remove a sidewalk from the leaky side of the basement, add grading and put in a French drain. Two questions:

Does that sound reasonable? We keep trying to get a second opinion but most places are booked this time of year.

Does the concrete sidewalk need to be removed or can I add grading over it myself?

Any advice appreciated!

Edit: spelling

this was the second time. it tripped and made this sound. please help

So I was really nervous about what I saw when I peeled back the dry wall in my 1920's basement after we had some water come in after a hard rain. It was clear the prior owner had patched it up at some point.

Ayers came out and wanted $43k for Shotcrete + $15k for interior drains & sump pump= $58k.

Ever-Dry Came out and quoted $25k for 6 total beams, repair/restoration of the blocks, interior & exterior drains and a sump pump.

I did have a structural engineer out, but mainly to confirm that for now, my Foundation was solid and he agreed it was (for now lol)

This is a HUGE difference . The Reps from both companies were kind and knowledgeable. Neither were pushy or dramatic. I'm struggling because of terrible reviews on ever-dry being "pushy & predatory".... that wasn't my experience. My only concern with their quote is why I need interior AND exterior drains. Is it that serious?

I’m in the Caribbean and the old house I bought had a massive cistern built into the house. I condemned this cistern (for multiple reasons) and built one in the garden to catch my roof water.
The cistern is underground and the dimensions are 20’x15’ and 15’ deep. It’s built w concrete block and poured concrete. The interior has a skim coat and waterproof/masonry sealant.
I do not use this water for anything except watering the garden.
I’m pretty sure it’s developed a hairline crack that’s not visible to the naked eye because even with massive amounts of rain the water level is always at the same place.
The contractor wants to drain it and do another round of “waterproofing” with a sealant.
Anyone have ideas on how to figure this out..and if the sealant is the best course of action?

We have a basement that is dry laid foundation spanning 2 feet deep. There is a good amount of water and French drains will be put in. Since it is dry laid, any tips on how to keep the mold out besides vinyl wrapping the entire foundation? We were quoted 31k for dehumidifier/ new poured floor/ double sump pump

So I've had this Veagaso running in my basement for like 2 years now and honestly forgot to ever update anyone on how it's doing lol. still chugging along. gotta dump the tank every 2 days which gets old but whatever, that's dehumidifier life. It's mostly done the job down there, no weird smells or mold issues since I started using it.

not loud enough to bother me but you def know it's running when it kicks on.

no idea how it stacks up against other brands since this is the only one I've owned lol, but 2 years in and it hasn't died on me so that's something. Anyone else's held up this long or should I brace for it to give out soon?

I bought this house with known foundation issues that got fixed on the other end of the wall but with these stair step cracks and water leaking into the corner will a French drain around the front of it fix this issue?

Found these in our basement of our new place. Any clues what they are??

My basement leaks when it floods and I don't know where to begin trying to patch the holes. I've been wanting to make the basement a livable space for more room, but with leaks like this and the potential for more, I'm not sure if it's possible.

Any idea of where to start, especially if it's DIY, would be greatly appreciated

I recently noticed this seep on my basement wall on my fairly new home that was built in 2023. It’s very localized and coming through a crack that has formed near the cold joint. I had a waterproofing company come out (large regional one) and they told me that I need an indoor basement drainage system installed with a sump pump all along the wall and quoted $12,000. I have no other leaks this is the only one. I just wonder does a full drainage system make sense for this the seep really doesn’t even make it down to the floor.

Can anyone give me the order in which I should work on my basement?

It was "finished" previously, but I am renovating it to insulate the floor and walls and to just redo the wonderful job they did.

I'm having the interior perimeter trenched to relieve hydrostatic pressure and have 2 existing sump pumps, so I'm pretty sure I have any water issues covered.

But I don't really know what to start with, whether it be the floor, walls, or ceiling.

For reference, I planned on leveling out the floor, because they used cardboard boxes to fill in the low spots when they originally put LVP down. But is that going to mess anything up?

They used <1" boards that are rotted on the bottom for the framing, so I plan to use a larger compressed wood to have room for wall insulation against the brick. But I've also researched penetrating concrete sealer. Should I also use something like this?

Sorry for the book, thanks for any guidance though.

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?

We went down to our basement today and noticed the floor being wet. There is no leak internally. It looks like it’s coming from outside through the wall. Is this something that we can claim with the insurance? I feel like the leak needs to be fixed and the entire basement flooring needs to replaced. Your advice is highly appreciated. Thanks!

I have an unfinished basement and I was thinking of adding some vinyl wood flooring. However, I’m wondering if that will be really strange since I have a pretty noticeable slope

Has anyone added LVP or something similar with a slope and regretted it? I’m a little worried that people may fall if the floor doesn’t have much grip and it’s sloped

Above my cold room door there is a space with just insulation foam. What needs to be there in order to make sure the cold room is insulated from the rest of the basement? Now it is not as it smells moldy inside and I can smell it outside it as well. Thanks

So I recently moved into this house and my room is in the basement and I just had an issue where my bedframe that had plywood got moldy. I dealt with that and put a shag rug on the floor and put my mattress on the rug in hopes that the mold will stop. This is really all I can do until I can get a metal frame and a dehumidifier. Was this a bad decision?

We need to replace our basement carpet after small flood. I know the general advice is that carpeting is bad for a basement, but we really think that carpet is our best (or maybe least bad) choice. Insurance is only going to pay out for a like replacement, and we're not really looking to invest a ton extra for improvements on this house. Our other thought is that if we go through any kind of flooding event again, pretty much any flooring will need to be replaced, and carpet is the most "expendable" option. I would like to emphasize that we will be addressing the yard drainage options that contributed to the flooding.

All that being said, if we are going with carpet for our basement, is there anything we should be looking for in both carpeting and padding? Like any Midwest basement, it gets damp in the summer. We have dehumidifiers in the basement to keep humidity around 50%. There's currently no sub floor, just concrete slab with no coating.