how do I clean up this bench footing?

963 Views 2 Replies 3 Participants Last post by Nealtw, Jan 20, 2020

pjstock

Discussion Starter · Jan 19, 2020

I should have snapped Before pictures before I started messing with this but....

the top floor eaves of this house were, I guess, clogged with leaves. In a heavy rain the eaves overflowed, water cascaded down the brick walls and soaked the lower living basement walls which caused the drywall and the plaster finish on the concrete bench footing to swell and burst and looked terrible. all blistered and peeling.
I removed about 1/8th" of damaged surface with a scraper. the affected length of that top of the bench is about.... 6 feet. It looked (and was) much worse than the small bits of damage that I hadn't covered and that I was able to photograph.

I am no master pasterer.
how should I have attacked rehabilitating this surface?
How do I get a reasonably smooth flat finish like it was before?
is there a technique and special tools that woudl help (like those edging trowels for inside and outside corner?)
or is this just a process of building up layers and sanding them down until I get it flat straight and smooth (I am not optimistic I'll ever get there.)

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joecaption

· #2 · Jan 20, 2020

Nothings going to work until you address why it's happening, and all that needs to be done on the outside, not the inside.
Working gutters, grade running away from the house, no mulch piled up again the foundation, outside foundation sealed, may even need drain tiles installed to get the water away from the foundation.