Hey all. Has anyone painted their basement walls with dry lok?

What did you use to prepare the surface? I just have non painted concrete with signs of efflorescence and very dirty.

How did the dry lok do when you paint over it? I found that 100% acrylic latex paint is recommended.

Since I can only find two colors. I want to paint my basement walls with White DryLok paint as a primer. Then paint the walls with another color on top of the drylok.

 

Not what you've asked but have you addressed the water problem on the outside with gutters, grading and downspout extensions already?

If not, then, IMO, you're not ready to paint the inside yet.

 

Not sure how to rate the intensity of a water problem. The basement gets humid in the summer and I am buying a dehumidifier.

I need to paint the walls either way as we want to spruce up the place. The side of the basement where the chimney is gets wet from moisture if it rains heavy.

I wanted to use drylok to be proactive with the basement walls, and lay a nicer color over it.

 

I've applied a good bit of Drylok. It's formulated to be applied over raw clean masonry. Usually taking a wire brush to the efflorescence does a good enough job getting it ready for drylok. I believe the old oil base formula does a little bit better job BUT it will stink up the house!! I haven't used the oil base formula since shortly after they came out with the latex formula. Drylok [or similar] is a must for priming raw block below grade prior to applying paint.

As noted above while drylok may stop a small amount of moisture, waterproofing the walls should always be done on the exterior side of the foundation!

 

Waterproofing the walls on the exterior side of the foundation... Unfortunately there is not way for me to know that without digging up all around the house. Sorry man, I live in NY and my home was built in 1950.

It looks like I have a light coat of very old yellow paint so I will need to wire brush this paint off before applying the dry lok as well it looks like.

So back to my original question - What did you guys use to prep the surface with pre existing paint and efflorescense?

 

Drylok is formulated to be applied to bare masonry. It might adhere ok to paint but will loose most/all of it's 'waterproofing' qualities. I've always used a wire brush to remove efflorescence on interior foundation walls. I've never applied drylok over paint.

Most houses built in the 50's didn't have a lot done to waterproof the exterior of the foundation. Do you currently have water migrating thru the foundation? or does it just get damp on occasion near the chimney?

 

It gets damp around the chimney area.

Also, in the summer it gets very humid in the basement itself - I just purchased a dehumidifier for the downstairs.

 

Drylok might take care of the damp block at the chimney but you should still do all you can on the outside to prevent the moisture from entering the foundation wall. Sometimes grading and piping away downspouts is all that is needed.

Most basements need a dehumidifier

 

I will definitely work on downspouts and grading soil away this spring / summer.

But I do have a need to paint the basement to make it look more habitable.

Is it a bad thing to use dry lok as a primer for this? I figure it will be nice as a white primer, and also proactive for future moisture problems.

Please let me know the best route to go for this. We have just surpassed our first year as a homeowner and learning as we go.

 

It depends on how porous the foundation wall is whether or not the drylok will do more than just paint. IF the drylok can enter and fill the pores of the block, it has a chance at stopping moisture BUT if it just lays on top, it's no better than any other paint.

Posting a pic or two might help us better evaluate what you are working with - http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...your-post.html

 

I will post tonight when I get home. Thanks for helping out.

 

There is a long used alternate to DryLock - Thoroseal, which is not really a paint, but a concrete coating. It has been around longer the DryLock for commercial, industrial and residential uses, but you do apply it with a "brush" that is bigger and heavier than what a painter would use. Most painters will not work with it because of the effort (no spraying).

It is suggested to be applied to concrete or concrete block wall that has been just misted to pre-wet and make the proper application easier and control the suction. The brush is like an old "white wash" brush since the coating is gritty and can easily cover/eliminate small holes, voids and can even hide patches and tooled mortar joints if 2 coats are used. - Not easy and it takes work to apply and patience to mix it (dry from a bag) to allow it to be the right consistency.

I used/specified it for repairs on architectural concrete, dam repairs and on my own home basement AND on my 1600 sf lake home for waterproofing lightweight block I built and waited 3 years until I got around to applying the brick veneer. - When you do the exterior of a home like that with an attached garage, you get to know the effort and appreciate the performance.

Dick

 

You mentioned that you have a light coating of yellow paint. Since your house is 1950 this may be oil based (and lead) so the two concerns would be that incoming water vapor will blow oil paint that is not permeable off the walls, maybe that is why you see a light coating. The paint should be checked for lead if you are going to scrape, wire brush it.

 

Sorry for the delay. I have links to the pictures here. Thanks again, hopefully I can run to home depot to get the right stuff.

 

Hard to tell from the pics what type of coating is on the walls but unless it's feasible to remove the majority of the existing coating - drylok won't be very effective [other than making the wall look clean]

I know very little about thoroseal [or prep needed] other than our local Lowes doesn't carry it.


btw - I've never sprayed drylok as it both needs to be worked into the masonry with a brush/roller and most painters don't have an airless stout enough to pump it although I think a Graco 733 would pump it if you removed all the filters.