leza wang writes:
On Sunday, June 25, 2017 at 9:02:50 PM UTC-4, Dan Espen wrote:
On Sunday, June 25, 2017 at 6:59:15 PM UTC-4, trader_4 wrote:
On Sunday, June 25, 2017 at 3:31:01 PM UTC-4, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 6/25/2017 2:53 PM, leza wang wrote:
Hi
The floor of my basement use to be covered by a carpet and
underneath it a vinyl tiles. I removed both of them. I am not
sure what the floor is made from. Not sure if it is cement of
something else. My house was build in 1926.
I took a picture of this floor. you can see it here
http://tinypic.com/r/243nccm/9
My question, do you know from that pic which kind of floor is
that (cement or something else). Also any recommendation how to
keep it nice. Any material I can put it to clean it, make it
better looking, shining etc. I had to remove both the carpet and
vinyl because of the water.
Thanks a lotl.
Looks like concrete, just marked up from the tiles. You can tap it with
a hammer and it should be very hard and have a sound of solid. Thump a
concrete wall for an example.
Is the water problem solved? If so, I'd put a cheap laminate floor
down. It will look good and be fairly easy to clean.
Looks like concrete to me too. Painting it is one option. It keeps
dust down and will make it look nicer. Also depends on what it will
be used for. And as someone else posted, make sure the water
problem is really solved first.
Thank you all for the help. Yes painting is a good option. I do not
want to put anything else for now. I like it that way. I mean not
hardwood, tile etc. Now my question what kind of paint? is there any
special paint for that?
About the water, the water come inside my basement when the snow start
melting, only then I see water inside my basement. If it rains and no
matter how strong the rain, my basement keeps dry. So I thought it is
a crack in the foundation that allow the melting ice go inside my
basement. Thank all once again.
Most likely, the melting snow raises the water table and you are getting
seepage. Epoxy paints are good on concrete, but NOTHING will last
long with getting soaked with water.
You need to solve the water problem.
They make some laminate flooring now that's supposed to be water proof.
If it gets wet, take it up, dry it, put to down again.
Still recommend solving the water issue.
--
Dan Espen
Thank you for your reply all, but how to solve the water problem? It
is very inconsistent. We had very heavy rain last week but my basement
was so dry! that was my observation, it gets wet in spring when the
temperature goes above 0, it wont happen so often but 3-4 times a
year. Thanks a lot.
I knew that was going to be your next question, but I think it's near
impossible for online help with that. You really need someone
knowledgeable to take a first hand look.
I had water issues in my current house so I looked at a lot of
causes and cures. Bad gutters, grading issues, sump pump placement
and depth, lots of things could come into play.
In my case I had a french drain installed
in an existing basement. No more water problems.
If your water table elevates during a thaw, the water can
enter the house right up through the slab. That's what I had,
puddles forming right in the middle of the room. It looked
to me like the previous owner tried to solve the problem with
gutter outflow directed into a dry well. He also tried Drylock
water proof paint. That may have helped but heavy, sustained
rains still caused water to accumulate.
--
Dan Espen