DURA-RUBBER – CONCRETE BASEMENT APPLICATIONS
It is always best to waterproof your foundation from the outside with that not always possible Dura-Rubber is an excellent option for water & damp-proof coating for basements. You can follow the general application over concrete instructions below with a few added steps specific to basements.
Un-like a pond that you are trying to keep the water in and you have the pressure of the water working to push the coating to the concrete. A basement you are trying to keep water out and fighting the pressure of the water to push the coating away from the concrete.
If the water is coming in under pressure the best fix is to re-rout the water or relieve the water pressure with a weep hole and plumb the water to a drain of sump before applying any coating.
The concrete needs to be clean. We found the best way to clean the mold and grease off the concrete was with steam. We hired a carpet cleaning service to clean the floors and walls. This did an excellent job of cleaning without adding more moisture to the concrete that water and a scrub brush would add.
To apply the Dura-Rubber the concrete needs to be dry. We recommend below 10% moisture content with 7% being the target. The application photos on this page the moisture content of the walls is between 12-15% on the high side. The way we made this work was to heat up the room and use a dehumidifier to dry out the room. We applied a thin coat of the waterproof primer this will keep the water in the thick coats of Dura-Rubber adding to the moisture content of the concrete. Let primer coat dry 24 hours before applying Dura-Rubber allow 24 hours between coats of Dura-Rubber.
If you have some water seeping between the walls and floor, we recommend using the reinforcement fabric. You can also use it on cracks and small holes.
If the walls have pitting, you could get some cracking in the coating do to the water in the Dura-Rubber trying to escape during the drying process. Let dry for 24hr and touch us with Dura-rubber and a brush.