Waterproof paints and wet basement seal coats – The wet band-aid solution to a leaky, flooded basement.

The hype surrounding these “waterproofing solutions” is just that, hype.  These so-called waterproof paints and sealers are nothing more than thicker versions of ordinary paint with “encapsulated polymers”, cement and even petroleum.  Unfortunately, slick marketing has led many consumers to believe that these paints and sealers will actually keep basements from flooding and basement cracks from leaking forever. The truth is that these basement “fixes” are nothing more than band-aids.

Basement paint won’t keep walls from seeping or leaking – It’s a matter of science

In the short term, you can apply basement waterproofing paint to your interior basement walls and see that the seeping and leaking of water stops almost immediately.  You are happy.  In a few weeks or so, you may begin to notice little bubbles of paint forming on your basement walls.  These paint bubbles will eventually grow larger and fall off the basement walls.  Think about what happens when a band-aid you are wearing gets wet; the same principle is at work.

Moisture from outside and any leaking or seeping that has occurred in the past will come back.

This moisture, the leaking and the seeping didn’t go away just because you applied the paint; it was just temporarily hidden.

“The dictionary definition of hydrostatic pressure is: pressure exerted by a fluid at equilibrium, at a given point within the fluid, due to the force of gravity.  For our purposes,  it’s water pushing up against the foundation walls and basement floors Hydrostatic Pressure will always find its way into your basement/foundation walls and floors.  When moisture or water seeps through concrete or mortar, erosion and degradation of the materials occurs. The materials that comprise basement foundation walls is porous.  By covering the walls in a paint or sealant, moisture is only getting trapped behind the paint, leading to a quicker pace of degradation.

To properly rid your basement of water and moisture, you need to find the source and then work on fixing the cause of the problem.  Visit Our Solutions to learn more.