Harry Muscle wrote:
I have a couple quick questions about my basement walls.

My original plan was to paint the concrete basement walls with DryLok
paint or something similar to keep moisture levels down and to
eliminate any possibilites of water leaking in (there's one spot where
there was leakage before, but I haven't noticed any for about a year
now). After painting with DryLok I would insulated all the walls, add
vapour barrier, then add drywall. However, I got thinking ...
wouldn't the DryLok paint and vapour barrier both act as vapour
barriers? And isn't a vapour barrier supposed to be only on the warm
side of the wall? So wouldn't using both cause condensation
problems? Actually wouldn't using the DryLok itself in an insulated
wall cause condensation problems since in effect you have a vapour
barrier on the cold side? Or am I just not understanding this
correctly?

Thanks,
Harry

I would suggest doing the DryLok first then waiting until you have had a
very wet year without any leaks before proceeding. DryLok does a very poor
job of blocking moisture. If you have moisture problems you need to address
the problem not the symptom (the leak). You need to work outside to stop
leaks not inside.

I would not put that kind of work into a basement until I was sure all
moisture problems were resolved.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit