Had that done to us 50 years ago - 6' (2M) flood in the front yard.
Water was kept out of the house and that was a task. Sandbags.
The shop tables - oak with linoleum on top. They were from a library
that got modern tables. The 4x4" legs were nice and strong.

Anyway the tables lost all of the varnish. The linoleum was curled.
Tools and stuff in boxes - like a nice set of 35mm movie film was under
water.

Oh - did I say we just moved in - half of the stuff was in the back yard.

If you varnish a top - varnish the bottom. Do keep the boards in the
same drying percentage. Otherwise they will cup.

The sheetrock - I'd use the blue board that retards or forbids mold.
It is used in bathrooms. It won't soak up water like normal sheetrock.

I'd consider using he spray foam that will give you isolation and some
water. It seals with closed cells. pricy - about $100 for 100 square ft.

Martin

On 8/31/2011 9:42 PM, tiredofspam wrote:
I have my shop in my basement. It's a small ranch, wish it was a walk out.

Anyway, I have never had water in the basement before this weekend.
It's a finished basement, sheetrock and insulation. Originally for my
son to play in, then it morphed from a small shop to the whole basement.

Well I have ripped out the bottom of the walls and glass batts to stop
the mold. I am airing out, and thanks to a moisture meter, I can tell
I'm doing better. It will take a while.. Some of it I didn't get to
until today. That was very moldy..


I want to redo the bottom and close it up. Building code here requires
the walls be sealed up.

What to do. Sheetrock and fiberglass batts again..

Or something that won't soak up the moisture and require ripping apart.
If it happened once, it can again.

Anyone know of a good choice for the bottom of the wall?

That will promote drying, not be a sponge, and not mold over easily. I
have cut out the bottom 8" to promote the drying further up... I might
have to cut some areas out completely, but 8" seems to be working. The
wet stuff higher up is drying out mostly.

Most all my tools survived unscathed.. I haven't looked under the
jointer, bandsaw.. to see if they are rusting out the bottom...

Some wood was damaged, my new bench was damaged by dirty water. It was a
piece of furniture, now its just a workbench.. (well it always was a
workbench, it just looked so good before the dirty water stained the legs.