Sealant and breathable are not terms usually used together unless you are
takling about the fumes generated during application. Unless you are
wallpapering with gore-tex, blocking water and air usually happen together.
I would never use a breathable sealant (oxymoron)

Moisture alone will not rot stone or concrete. you need something organic
or for the water to be flowing. Sealing water into or behind a (masonry)
wall is what you are supposed to do.



"Ben Gold" wrote in message
...
Thanks,

I find the whole concrete sealant thing confusing. Everything I read
says it should be breathable, but then all the promotional materials of
stuff I find on the web or in the store proudly state it's "moisture
blocking" abilities.

I want it to breathe, right? God forbid there is moisture, I don't
want it rotting away under or beside my building for years on end.

Same goes for painting masonry.

What's a good source on various brands, etc?

-Ben

Still, be careful in case the dust contains remnants of the asbestos.

With all that dust, sounds like at least, you don't have moisture
problems.

Sounds like a good cleaning followed by painting with a concrete sealer.
Much of the dust that troubles you now may be just recirculating around
the
room. After vacuuming every surface, go through with a leaf blower to
dislodge any more dust and vacuum everything again.

A paint or epoxy concrete sealer will do better than a water sealer
which
wont stop new dust from grinding off the surface of the cement. For the
ceiling, if it is not flaking off in big pieces, a good paint job should
prevent any plaster dust from forming. You can treat the walls the same
as
the floor with a concrete sealer like seal lock or similar. You should
seal
them anyway even if you plan to frame a wall in front.

If the concrete floor is uneven, rough, badly cracked or just
unattractive,
you might be able to pour a thin coat of self leveling (concrete) mix
over
the whole thing and make a new surface. Leveling now may save you a
step
later if you decide to tile or put in just about any flooring surface.
You
can prep the old floor with a wire brush and vacuum unless it has large
oil
stains.





"Ben Gold" wrote in message
...
Thanks,

The asbestos has been removed already when we bought the place.



Before you go tearing down anything in the ceiling you might want to
make sure the heating pipes are not insulated with asbestos-based
pipe
coverings. A place as old as yours is very likely to have them (my
1921 house does).

These things often deteriorate and flake off, especially at the
joints. You'd want to stabilize them first by painting them solidly
with exterior latex trim paint, or have them removed by an asbestos
abatement crew.