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Poured concrete walls advice?

3K views 13 replies 6 participants last post by  stadry 
#1 ·
Hi everyone, we recently purchased an approx 50 year old home that is in very nice shape. The basement was covered wall to wall with old wood paneling which we decided to remove and finish in a different style. We proceeded to remove all of the wood paneling and the ajoining frame / studs, which didn't appear to be re-usable. Underneath we were met with the bare, poured concrete walls. Now, while there are no major cracks or fissures of any kind, there are a few holes of varying sizes and a bit of crumbling seems to be occurring (mostly at the very top of the slab). There are minimal signs of water penetration, nothing alarming.

My question is (as a novice homeowner) is this normal "wear and tear" for poured concrete walls? We've been told to just wire brush the walls and coat with drylock before proceeding with the re-model, but I just want to make sure there is nothing more significant we have to do since this may be the last time we have a chance to work on this area of the house. I'm a tad bit OCD when it comes to these thing , so I apologize is if I'm raising a fuss over nothing.

Thanks for the help
 
#2 ·
Best thing to do to address any concerns is to have the foundation inspected. The walls are exposed, now's the best time. There are licensed engineers out there that do nothing but this sort of inspection work. (I just did one yesterday.) Another good time to have one done is before putting a sump or french drain.
 
#3 ·
Just had an inspector come out yesterday and he seemed fairly happy with the foundation. There isn't much seepage, if any at this point. His lone recommendation was to get a dehumidifier and let it run since the house was unoccupied for a few months.

So I guess at this point, the crux of my question is - what should my expectations be for the condition of the concrete walls in my house? Should I expect them to have signs of wear and tear due to them being 50 or so years old? Again I'm kind of a novice at this, so I'm not sure if it's fair to expect them in perfect condition, good, fair, poor, etc.
 
#4 ·
to me, a home 'inspector' means unemployed crossing guard who bought a word processing program :furious: once bought a town home in w nj (allamuchy) back in the s & l boondoggle's closing days - 'inspector' gave it thumbs up so i showed him the door then call'd a pe friend who saw what i did,,, renegotiated selling price, he stamped drawings, & we fix'd it :thumbup: so of course your guy's happy - its not his house & you pd him :yes: 'isn't much seepage, if any at this point' wouldn't thrill NOR reassure most or shouldn't nevertheless a humidifier may be a good.

you're a 'novice' at what - owning a home OR evaluating 50yr old conc ? im-n-s-h-fo, you should expect walls to be square, straight, & strong,,, you describe 'crumbling' - may only be incomplete consolidation,,, look'd at a perfectly good 80yr old conc foundation wall yesterday - has a crk & leaks water when it rains,,, wouldn't bother me if it were my house as its an easy fix [did take down some drywall - someone had 'repaired' it by using drylock
:furious:] only my opinion but drylock never resolved anything tho it does make drylock happy when you buy it :no:

i'd follow ag's advice & hire a pe,,, at least a pe has demonstrated knowledge by passing a test - even better if you find 1 over 50 as staying IN biz is often more difficult :thumbup: good luck !
 
#5 ·
My question is (as a novice homeowner) is this normal "wear and tear" for poured concrete walls? We've been told to just wire brush the walls and coat with drylock before proceeding with the re-model,
Ayuh,... I would expect to see some bits of deterioration in 50 year old concrete...
If there's no signs of recent water infiltration,...
I'd go with the Plan quoted above...
 
#6 · (Edited)
blinkme323 said:
Hi everyone, we recently purchased an approx 50 year old home that is in very nice shape. The basement was covered wall to wall with old wood paneling which we decided to remove and finish in a different style. We proceeded to remove all of the wood paneling and the ajoining frame / studs, which didn't appear to be re-usable. Underneath we were met with the bare, poured concrete walls. Now, while there are no major cracks or fissures of any kind, there are a few holes of varying sizes and a bit of crumbling seems to be occurring (mostly at the very top of the slab). There are minimal signs of water penetration, nothing alarming.

My question is (as a novice homeowner) is this normal "wear and tear" for poured concrete walls? We've been told to just wire brush the walls and coat with drylock before proceeding with the re-model, but I just want to make sure there is nothing more significant we have to do since this may be the last time we have a chance to work on this area of the house. I'm a tad bit OCD when it comes to these thing , so I apologize is if I'm raising a fuss over nothing.

Thanks for the help
If there bad they might be able to gunite or shockcrete it. My sister in laws house has disitagrating concrete and her husband is a contractor. I just waiting to see how he fixes it, if he does?

Dry lock worked in my case. I coul see the soil gradient from the outside and cellar smelled sweet an musty. Ulg'd an all moisture gone. Though the foundation was in good shape. 50 years old, 1958.
 
#7 ·
'gunite' [trademark] IS shotcrete ( or, if you will, ' shockcrete ' ),,, there are 2 types - wet & dry,,, still stand by my statement on ANY negative side ' Dry lock ' type of products - even xypex,,, the wtr still penetrates the walls - you just DON'T see it OR the damage it AND soil acids are causing,,, keep this thread alive & ck back in 1 or 2 yrs,,, in the meantime, keep the dream alive :thumbsup:
 
#8 · (Edited)
itsreallyconc said:
'gunite' [trademark] IS shotcrete ( or, if you will, ' shockcrete ' ),,, there are 2 types - wet & dry,,, still stand by my statement on ANY negative side ' Dry lock ' type of products - even xypex,,, the wtr still penetrates the walls - you just DON'T see it OR the damage it AND soil acids are causing,,, keep this thread alive & ck back in 1 or 2 yrs,,, in the meantime, keep the dream alive :thumbsup:
Thanks for the correction. I meant shockcrete im on an ipad and my fingers are fat and no spell korrecshun.
I have seen bad foundations and i wonder what causes it, could be acid but is it possible that it was a bad batch of concrete?

And about home inspectors some are retarded. There was a guy threading and seemed to know his stuff. He seemed open to sugestions and also critqued my inspector and what he missed. He seemed very knowedgible ( spell check). I figured you know your stuff because of your name.

How do you remediate bad soil. Tons of lime mosture bariers on concrete? I don t know, info please.

Thanks


Barrier befor concrete right?
 
#9 ·
there's many reasons for 'bad concrete' but, im-n-s-h-fo, the end result is more often the fault of the conc contractor - eg, crk'd driveways're usually because of an improper/ill-timed jnt pattern; cold joints in walls because the 2nd trk was late & the new conc wasn't consolidated into the old; aggregate showing on walls = inadequate vibration while in the forms.

i'm not a soils guy - ask your lawn & garden eng,,, lime does sweeten it according to my ex-wife, nagzilla :yes:

waterproofing barriers should ALWAYS be installed on foundation exteriors (positive side) but that is only PART of a successful waterproofing system.
 
#10 ·
itsreallyconc said:
there's many reasons for 'bad concrete' but, im-n-s-h-fo, the end result is more often the fault of the conc contractor - eg, crk'd driveways're usually because of an improper/ill-timed jnt pattern; cold joints in walls because the 2nd trk was late & the new conc wasn't consolidated into the old; aggregate showing on walls = inadequate vibration while in the forms.

i'm not a soils guy - ask your lawn & garden eng,,, lime does sweeten it according to my ex-wife, nagzilla :yes:

waterproofing barriers should ALWAYS be installed on foundation exteriors (positive side) but that is only PART of a successful waterproofing system.
If my foundation is already wet. Do i excavate and leave the hole open for days/weeks/months to dry it out if i want to put an external barrier on the " postitive side"? Or is it ok to leave it wet and it will eventualy dry out. Any moistue content requirements for putting on barriers ie tar or whatever its called.

Thanks
 
#12 ·
so what if your foundation's wet,,, the problem's the vapor transfer & leaking water THRU the foundation walls which collects on the basement floor,,, if you do excavate & install a proper drainage system including waterproofing the walls & footer, the surfaces will generally dry out in a day,,, we use either a asphalt emulsion spray-applied in 20mm coat OR fiber-reinforced roofing cement - both are protected by a layer of unfiltered delta drain (hdpe fabric),,, just be sure the concrete or masonary walls are clean as little sticks to dirt :no:

cc sez epoxy the cracks - that may be a proper repair depending on the conc however i read no mention of crks in your original post,,, in genl, surface prep, mtl selection, & the skill of the mechanic control the success of most epoxy projects,,, btw, NEVER use epoxy when it can be exposed to uv :mad:

floor tiles on a wall may be feasible however i'd think maybe his home but not ours,,, we acid stain'd & got some decent throw rugs after making sure the floor was a good candidate for that process - good luck !
 
#13 · (Edited)
Sorry, I mean Epoxy the holes and crumbling INSIDE, not outside(So No UV exposure). and not the entire wall, just the crumbling areas with holes.
Acid stain is awsome on fresh concrete, but does it really take to old concrete? I mean it will give it a great marble look if its done right. Of course, I have seen entire walls covered in an epoxy finish on the inside, and it adds to the life of the concrete.
 
#14 ·
that would mean an epoxy mortar or epoxy concrete which MAY be the proper repair,,, unfortunately, we can only guess w/o pics,,, the 'minimal signs of water' is more significant to me - there should be none !

we've acid-stained conc that's 30d old to 100yrs old & gotten pd so i suspect clients were satisfied :thumbsup:

epoxies/polyaspartics/urethanes do extend the serviceable life of conc surfacing,,, if, however, you mean ' life' in the 'joie di vivre' sense/interpretation, i also agree :thumbup:
 
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