Waterproofing a basement

The house we are buying has a basement, for some reason I am so neurotic about the basement being damp. If I don't see any water, does that mean that it is waterproof, I know it's a dumb question, but I have no idea!!

Are there companies who will come and check? I know the engineer guy had a thing that said if it was or wasn't but I don't remember what he said and the results. I know one room I think I saw water stains, the other room has a carpet in it, but there is also a dehumidifier down there. I'd like to get rid of the dehumidifier and make the basement a sort of hangout for the kids.

Re: Waterproofing a basement

I could definitely be wrong, but I think that in order to truly waterproof your basement you need to dig really far down on the sides of your house, coat the outer walls with something, install rocks for wells, and then put some kind of additional barrier down the sides, then re-concrete.

I have no idea how much something like that would cost!

As for not remembering what your engineer said, it should all be in his report so you can always reference that.

Good luck!

Waterproofing a basement

Just because you don't see water doesn't mean that the basement is waterproof. I'm not an engineer, but I think there is a difference between "waterproof" and a basement not being damp. Like blustar said, I think to waterproof there's a process although I'm not sure how much that is. Some things to look for when trying to determine if there are water issues in the basement
-geography- houses at the top of a hill are much less likely to have water issues than homes on the bottom of a hill.
-slope- is the lawn graded so that the land slopes toward the house or away from the house
-exterior window wells- are the wells bricked up so that there is a barrier between water and window well
-smell- fairly obvious, but if there's a mildew smell that's a clue
-marks on the wall- sometimes you can see water marks from where water has come in. Check around windows especially
- french drains- if there's a french drain, chances are (although not always) there have been water issues. Having a french drain is a great way to eliminate or minimize water issues, so it's not a bad thing that it's there.

In some cases a basement that has water issues can be remedied fairly easily, either by building up a soil mound or brick stack around the window wells, covering the window wells with one of the protectors or grading. The water issue that is most difficult to protect against would be in situations where the water table is fairly high and the water comes up through the floor. In that case, I'd want to see what could be done to protect if I was going to finish the basement.

Message edited 4/2/2013 1:48:26 PM.

Waterproofing a basement

Basements in general are damp and most will require a dehumidifier. Waterproofing can be very intensive and expensive. We had a guy come in and dig up our foundation and seal the walls from the outside, we installed a dry well and had all the gutters drain into that and we had the land pitched away from the house. Guess what...we still get water when it rains really hard and it comes up from the ground in the middle of the room. It's annoying!