in today’s video, i’m going to be sharinghow to waterproof basement walls using drylok paint. now here’s the deal, ugl is sponsoringthis video. and the reason why i agreed to partner with them was because i’m goingto be doing this anyway. so i figured i’m doing this anyway, we might as well partnertogether, 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 notsome kind of basement waterproofing expert. but i do know a few different things. numberone, you want the land around your home to be sloped away from the house. this home islandlocked here in pittsburgh because it’s sandwiched in between two other homes. we’vegot a sidewalk on one side and a yard in the
other. and there’s not too much i can dowith the grading. number two, you always want to check and make sure that your gutters anddownspouts 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 thatmusty 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 theside of it. and that sidewalk where that window is leads down into the basement. so we wouldrun 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 thatwe’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 scrapeoff any of the old paint, any kind of efflorescence that’s on the wall. you should use an etcherof some type if you do have efflorescence down. in this case, i’m using a sawtechblade and an angle grinder. and i’m taking off some of the high spots on the wall. youdon’t necessarily to do this. i wanted to do it, though, to create a nice, smooth finishin certain spots. this is a really old wall, and it did present some issues in terms ofthe prep work. wear all your safety stuff when you’re doing this. and then wipe offthe wall with a broom so there isn’t any
dust on it. so this is what my prepped walllooked 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 kindof cracks. you can do this actually under water. and you can also use it to anchor postsand different things. the other nice thing is it does reduce radon gas penetration, andthat’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. nowthe colder the water, the better the working time for this hydraulic cement. and you justfill in any kind of spots on the wall. now
you do want to cut out a v-notch in any crackbecause 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 brushto feather out that finish and make it look a little bit better. so that’s what i didthere. 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’sexactly what i’m doing. now here’s my prepped wall before i go ahead and apply thedrylok paint. so as you can see here i filled in all the cracks, and everything is as cleanas possible. and this dehumidifier was in fact running while i was doing all this. sohopefully 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 everythingout. if you do have a forced air furnace with gas, i would recommend that you turn the gasoff 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 basementtoo. so again, we’ve got plenty of air circulation in here, and that’s really, really importantwhen you’re working with any paint. so i threw a drop cloth on the floor justto protect the floor even though it doesn’t look the best—just any normal drop cloth.now you can also use a â¾â€ inch nap roller. i was going to use a 1 â¼â€ nap roller butdecided that actually i wasn’t going to
do this because a paint brush might be a betteroption, and i’ll get into that in a second. so i’m using drylok extreme masonry waterprooferfor this project. it provides a smooth finish. it also provides a mildew resistant film onthe top of the wall. and you can tint this to any color you want. so you don’t haveto do this in white. you can use it for a variety of different surfaces and areas inyour home, so not just the basement but swimming pools and other locations. i would say, youknow, make sure you follow the directions. you want it to be relatively dry in your basementwhen 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 thickconsistency, 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. andas you can see here, i started by just moving back and forth, left to right, and tryingto fill in any areas that needed the paint. and i found that moving left to right andhorizontally was a good method. you don’t want any pinholes in the paint because thatwill 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 inthe best that you can with the drylok paint. i like the paint brush because it allows meto go back and forth. and if i do have any
kind of drips, i can take care of those. youcan spray drylok on the wall. and i almost did that but decided not to do it becauseof all these weird nooks and crannies, like behind pipes and supports in the wall. itwas just easier for me to do that. and like i said, i back brushed any of the drips andthe runs that i had on that block. so the first wall, it probably took me a goodhour to do that; maybe less. and then because drylok is a latex paint, you can actuallyapply it to any surface. so i actually did the wood where that panel’s located. andthen 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, itlooks 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 thisold basement. now if you’re going to be waterproofing a basement for a game room orperhaps a basement bathroom, i would recommend that you check out drylok paint. it’s agreat 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 guideright here. it’s got a lot of great tips on waterproofing the actual bathroom and severalmore 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 toyou soon.