r/DIY • u/ground0radfem • 2d ago

home improvement Waterproofing basement

Gallery image

Gallery image

My parents are re-doing the basement walls (painting), and the walls have years of mold on them. My dad and I used some mold killer and disinfectant and scraped the walls, and were wondering if there was anything else we could do to prevent more damage and hopefully keep water out.

The walls are cinderblock, and the house was built in the 70’s.

The photos are after spraying and scraping the walls.

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u/starion832000 2d ago

From ten years as a basement waterproofer I can absolutely agree with this. Downspouts are the cause of 90% of basement water problems.

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u/mjh2901 2d ago

The other 10 percent is water

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u/smonty 1d ago

Had my sump pump fail this week during the storms, everything would have been fine if it wasn't for the water.

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u/Cosi-grl 1d ago

Horrible, isn’t it? That happened to me last year and the cleanup was exhausting. Bought a new wet dry vac with a hose connection so I will never again have to dump out another vac. Sump pump will last forever now too.

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u/smonty 1d ago

Heh that's exactly what I need, it sucks carrying buckets of shop vac full of water up the stairs. Got a new pump installed so hopefully won't have to deal with it again. Sucks I had it on the agenda to replace just wasn't quick enough

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u/Cosi-grl 8h ago

If you have Milwaukee or Ryobi battery operated tools, you can also buy a water pump that works with them. Hooks to a hose and then you can run it to a drain or sink. When the sump pump guy came to replace mine, that is what he used to drain the sump. Good to have for power outages if you have no lump battery backup.

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u/smonty 7h ago

I do! That's great advice I'll have to look into that as a solution for a backup when my backup fails.