In today’s video, I’m going to be sharing how to waterproof basement walls using DRYLOK
Paint. Now here’s the deal, UGL is sponsoring this video. And the reason why I agreed to
partner with them was because I’m going to be doing this anyway. So I figured I’m
doing this anyway, we might as well partner together, and show you how to use DRYLOK Paint.
Before you actually waterproof basement walls, you want to assess the outside of the home
first. Now I’m just a handyman. I’m not some kind of basement waterproofing expert.
But I do know a few different things. Number one, you want the land around your home to
be sloped away from the house. This home is landlocked here in Pittsburgh because it’s
sandwiched in between two other homes. We’ve got a sidewalk on one side and a yard in the
other. And there’s not too much I can do with the grading. Number two, you always want
to check and make sure that your gutters and downspouts are clean. I clean those twice
a year, and I know that they work properly, yet we still get moisture in this basement.
So I’m going to be renting out this home. I wanted the walls to look good for the new
tenants, and I didn’t want it to have that musty smell. So that’s why I’m using the
DRYLOK Paint. As you can see here, the house is in fact
landlocked. There’s that sidewalk on the side of it. And that sidewalk where that window
is leads down into the basement. So we would run this dehumidifier which costs money, and
my tenants wouldn’t run it all the time. Here’s the main wall. Here’s the side
wall; you can see all the cracks in it that we’re going to fix with a special product
from UGL. I’ll get into that in a second. I’m just using a regular 6” drywall knife,
and I’m going to be using that to scrape off any of the old paint, any kind of efflorescence
that’s on the wall. You should use an etcher of some type if you do have efflorescence
down. In this case, I’m using a Sawtech blade and an angle grinder. And I’m taking
off some of the high spots on the wall. You don’t necessarily to do this. I wanted to
do it, though, to create a nice, smooth finish in certain spots. This is a really old wall,
and it did present some issues in terms of the prep work. Wear all your safety stuff
when you’re doing this. And then wipe off the wall with a broom so there isn’t any
dust on it. So this is what my prepped wall looked like, and I was ready to go ahead and
do some additional work. This is the DRYLOK Fast Plug. It’s a hydraulic
cement, and you can use it to seal any kind of cracks. You can do this actually under
water. And you can also use it to anchor posts and different things. The other nice thing
is it does reduce radon gas penetration, and that’s important here in Western Pennsylvania
where radon is pretty bad. Now what you do is you take three cups, three
measuring cups provided in the container. Three of those and one cup of water, and you
mix it all together with a putty knife. Now the colder the water, the better the working
time for this hydraulic cement. And you just fill in any kind of spots on the wall. Now
you do want to cut out a v-notch in any crack because that v-notch will help hold the hydraulic
cement in the wall. But as you can see here, I’m filling in all the cracks. Then if you
want to, you can actually use a masonry brush to feather out that finish and make it look
a little bit better. So that’s what I did there. I didn’t want like this huge, weird
patch on the wall. Now if you do have mold or mildew, you can
use Concrobium in the corners, and that’s exactly what I’m doing. Now here’s my
prepped wall before I go ahead and apply the DRYLOK paint. So as you can see here I filled
in all the cracks, and everything is as clean as possible. And this dehumidifier was in
fact running while I was doing all this. So hopefully we won’t have to have that happen
anymore. So open up your window in the basement. If
you’ve got a window, you want to air everything out. If you do have a forced air furnace with
gas, I would recommend that you turn the gas off to it. Same thing with the hot water tank
just as a precaution. This is, after all, paint. And if you’ve got a gas dryer, don’t
run it while you’re painting in the basement too. So again, we’ve got plenty of air circulation
in here, and that’s really, really important when you’re working with any paint.
So I threw a drop cloth on the floor just to protect the floor even though it doesn’t
look the best—just any normal drop cloth. Now you can also use a ¾” inch nap roller.
I was going to use a 1 ¼” nap roller but decided that actually I wasn’t going to
do this because a paint brush might be a better option, and I’ll get into that in a second.
So I’m using DRYLOK Extreme Masonry Waterproofer for this project. It provides a smooth finish.
It also provides a mildew resistant film on the top of the wall. And you can tint this
to any color you want. So you don’t have to do this in white. You can use it for a
variety of different surfaces and areas in your home, so not just the basement but swimming
pools and other locations. I would say, you know, make sure you follow the directions.
You want it to be relatively dry in your basement when you do this. DRYLOK does sell brushes,
and that’s what I decided to use. So you just want to mix up the DRYLOK really,
really, really, really well. It is a thick consistency, but not thicker than a regular
latex paint. So I just started in the corner and brushed
it in right next to that electrical box. And as you can see here, I started by just moving
back and forth, left to right, and trying to fill in any areas that needed the paint.
And I found that moving left to right and horizontally was a good method. You don’t
want any pinholes in the paint because that will let moisture through. So just double
check that you don’t have those pinholes. So again, I just moved left to right across
the wall, and this went by pretty quickly. You know there’s really not much to it.
You just want to make sure that you fill in the best that you can with the DRYLOK Paint.
I like the paint brush because it allows me to go back and forth. And if I do have any
kind of drips, I can take care of those. You can spray DRYLOK on the wall. And I almost
did that but decided not to do it because of all these weird nooks and crannies, like
behind pipes and supports in the wall. It was just easier for me to do that. And like
I said, I back brushed any of the drips and the runs that I had on that block.
So the first wall, it probably took me a good hour to do that; maybe less. And then because
DRYLOK is a latex paint, you can actually apply it to any surface. So I actually did
the wood where that panel’s located. And then I let that hydraulic cement dry overnight,
and I just filled that in with the DRYLOK. You can see this wall looks terrible. And
then after I painted it with the DRYLOK, it looks so much better and way more presentable
to the tenants who are going to move in here. Just remember: To get the full benefit of
DRYLOK, you need two coats on the wall. I was pretty impressed with how easily the
DRYLOK went on the block wall here in this old basement. Now if you’re going to be
waterproofing a basement for a game room or perhaps a basement bathroom, I would recommend
that you check out DRYLOK Paint. It’s a great option for you. It’s not terribly
expensive. And again, it’s a great DIY project. If you are going to be putting in a new basement
bathroom, you may want to check out our guide right here. It’s got a lot of great tips
on waterproofing the actual bathroom and several more that will help you out with the tiling,
the tools, and the different materials. Thanks for watching today’s video. I’ll
see you next week. Take care, and talk to you soon.