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On Sep 5, 10:55 pm, Phisherman wrote:
On Sat, 5 Sep 2009 18:14:09 -0400, "JayTKR"
wrote:





I have a house that I am going to be renting out that has a basement with
poured concrete walls and a concrete floor. The basement doesn't flood,
but it does have a sump pump, and the pump does pump out water from under
the slab, especially after a heavy rain. I don't want to refinish the
basement, but I do want to clean up the way it looks a little and
eliminate
that slight musty smell. The basement is very high, clean, spacious, and
nice.

There is no detectable moisture that comes through the walls or the
floors.
I tested this using the "tape and seal a piece of aluminum foil" trick on
the walls and the floor. After a few days, when the taped and sealed foil
is removed there is no moisture there. Despite all of this, there is a
VERY
SLIGHT musty smell in the basement -- it is almost undetectable, but it's
there.

The house has an electric heat pump HVAC system. There are no intake or
supply vents in any of the HVAC ducts in the basement. My plan is to have
an HVAC person cut in some intake and supply vents so the basement will
be
served by the HVAC the way the rest of the house is. I think that alone
will probably eliminate the slight musty smell in the basement.

I did the "acid wash" (or whatever it is called) on the walls and then
painted them with a very light blue DryLock paint just as an extra sealer
on
the walls. I have more than enough DryLock paint left to also do the
floor.

I now want to paint the floor -- either with just latex porch and floor
paint, or with the DryLock paint first and then with latex porch and
floor
paint on top of that.

My inclination is to do the floor with the DryLock paint first, and then
paint over that with latex porch and floor paint.

Is that okay?

I'd think not. I'd apply a clear epoxy finish, specifically made for
concrete floors. And if I could not follow all the required
preparation, I'd leave the floor as is. You might need a
dehumidfier.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


The dehumidifiier is probably a better idea than adding heat/ac
registers to the basement. Doing so might bring that slight musty
smell to the whole house instead of eliminating it. Also, it may
cost more in energy cost than running the dehumidifier.

For the floor, I'd just go with any of the paints made specifically
for concrete. That's what I have on mine and it's held up well. I
just use my basement for storage. If you want a tougher product,
then the epoxy product could be a good choice.
--------------

Thanks. I am still a little undecided, but I think I'm going to go ahead
with doing the DryLok first and then latex porch and floor paint. The
reason is that it's okay to paint over DryLok but not okay to DryLok over
paint. So, I'm thinking I'll try the DryLok as the sealer and to adhere to
the concrete, then paint over that. Also, both the latex DryLok and the
latex paint are supposedly able to "breathe" a little.