My house is close to fifty years old. I have lived in it for the last 45 years. The interior basement walls were painted with ??? before I moved in. The ??? is now peeling and flaking from the floor up to about 3′. I don’t think the house’s exterior foundation was ever sealed . The exposed interior foundation looks kinda of grainy/pourous certainly not smooth concrete.
I want to clean up the flaking andrepaint it. I don’t expect to make it waterproof. I know there are many products to choose from. Just wondering if anyone has any product suggestions?
Thank you
Replies
Masonary coating
Thoroseal is a brand that works quite well for me, although most any masonary coating mix should work just as well.
It is a dry mix that you add water to to get to a brushable consistency - wet the wall ahead of yourself.
At this point the wall is sealed enough to take paint - or another coat of Thoroseal.
If the wall is real rough, the second coat can be mixed with washed sand and trowel it on.
Thoroseal is available in grey or white
Terry
I second Terry's recommendation. Thoroseal is specified by architects and used throughout NY city on exposed brick facades it's supposedly vapor permeable which will resist blistering.
Just a reminder: there MAY be lead in the old paint. Proceed with caution!!
HI! Did you try Glidden's products?
Tina
Didn't know Glidden had a foundation coating. What do they call it?
Maybe This Stuff:
http://www.glidden.com/Products/Exterior/HomeDepot/StuccoMasonryPaint
Nothing I've ever used though, came to me from a Googlesearch.
I'd be wondering why, after such a long span of years, the underlying concrete has suddenly begun to degrade. I have a poured concrete basement about that old too. Exterior waterproofing apparently wasn't applied when it was built, from what I can see of it now, above grade.
Only lived here just three years, it was obvious from Day 01 the previous (only) owner had had water intrusion issues, many stemming from a too-high sump pump float that left water in the footing drains. With saturated soil around the footings & lower basement walls, water would find its way into the basement almost any time it rained for long.
I lowered the float once I'd sussed out the issue & leakage significantly diminished. Took a year or more for that saturated soil - 100% clay, in reality what's called 'loess' by geologists - to lose the excess moisture. This year I replaced canted gutters (rafter ends left square when built, fascia subseuently canted ~ 12 degrees so old gutters were 3/4" lower in front than in back!!) and swapped in 3x4" downspouts for the old 2x3's to improve groundside drainage.
Probably it's "degrading"
Probably it's "degrading" because it's drying out. There are several factors at work -- the moisture serves to "glue" fragile concrete together, as the moisture evaporates it leaves crystals of various soluable chemicals which tend to split apat the surface, and probably a couple of others.
Maybe So, but...
... the OP states this peeling ??? is of recent date while it stayed put for 45+ years. I have to wonder about that 3' comment too; if concrete behind peeling paint is/has been persistently damp, wouldn't it tend to dry faster at the top? I know water vapor's less dense than air so it rises but liquid water inexorably moves down.
He makes no mention of flooding, which I CAN see causing problems with painted walls!
The top three feet are above ground, or nearly so, and never got wet in the first place.