On 8/31/2011 10:42 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.
[...]

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

Never mind *that*.

What you need to do *first* is find out how and why the water got in,
and fix *that* problem. If it was only a little bit of seepage, applying
a waterproofing paint such as Dry-Lok to the inside of the wall may be
sufficient. If it was a lot, and it was flowing, not seeping, you may
need to install perimeter drains and waterproof the foundation on the
outside.

Regardless, you need to examine your rainwater drainage:
- Is the ground immediately next to your house sloped to drain surface
water away from the foundation, or does it allow water to pool next to
the foundation (or worse, drain toward it)?
- Do the downspouts from your gutters have extensions that direct
rainwater some distance away from the foundation before dumping it on
the ground? Five or six feet is good. Ten inches is not.
- Have you checked your gutters and downspouts to make sure they're not
clogged? In a heavy rain, an overflowing gutter can dump an amazing
amount of water right next to the foundation.
- Are your gutters and downspouts large enough to handle a heavy rain?
Do you have enough downspouts? If water can't get out of the gutter
system at least as fast as it comes in, you're going to have an overflow
somewhere.