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Your Host and Tour Guide:
Paul Oman, MS, MBA - Progressive Epoxy Polymers, Inc.
Member: NACE (National Assoc. of Corrosion Engineers), SSPC (Soc. of Protective Coatings)
"Professionals helping
Professionals"
A few points up-front:
1) if the water is actively flowing our of the cracks/walls, it will push aside the wet epoxy and open up an unobstructed
path into your basement.
2) if sealing a crack or joint (commonly where the wall meets the floor), sealing one area may just move the water
flow to the next path of least resistance - i.e. several inches or feet farther along the wall - perhaps to an
area that was leak free before. You'll also need to coat perhaps six inches or so beyond the edges of the 'crack'
or seam (up and outward).
4) If your floor has been coated or sealed before you might have problems with a new sealing job. Some concrete
floors are sealed with a 'waterglass' or wax/silicon based sealer. Not much sticks to these kind of surface especially
when seeking an extremely tight and waterproof bond. Our Bio Vee Seal will also not work, as it will not soak into
the concrete. Nothing sticks to 'silicon seal' either. Putting epoxy over an existing paint or epoxy means the
bond will be only as good as it was on the old coating, now covered with the new epoxy.
5) If your basement is damp and musty, but has no obvious cracks or seams to seal, then the easiest and cheapest
sealer is our non-epoxy Bio Vee Seal. (this product has its own web site - click
here). This product soaks into the concrete and forms crystals inside the pore spaces of the concrete, thus
reducing porosity and permeability. It leaves nothing on the surface of the concrete.
OK - here we go:
There are lots of wet basement problems and they are all different. The most common are water escaping through
the walls or floors, coming out of obvious cracks and coming out of floor wall seam.. The floors are always poured
concrete, but the walls could be block or poured concrete. For the moment, we'll consider the poured walls.
WATER PASSING THROUGH THE WALL/FLOOR
Contrary to what many people think, cement is rather porous and permeable. It can fill with water, and worse yet,
water can pass through it, migrating into your basement. The result and be dark, damp concrete, a musty smell,
or even liquid water after a good rainstorm or winter melt.
While not always present, but when it is, not a good sign, is what looks like white dust or powder on the walls
or floor. These are mineral crystals that were in the water the migrated through the concrete and were left behind
when the water evaporated inside your basement. The minerals could come for the surrounding groundwater or perhaps
even out of the cement itself. It is possible that your concrete walls are literally dissolving away. If so, the
leaking will only get worse year after year.
 
TWO EXAMPLES OF MINERAL SALTS/CRYSTALS ON WALLS FROM WATER PASSING THROUGH THE WALLS - NOTE
CRACK REPAIR ON LEFT PICTURE
The bad news is that as these crystals grow and form, they can generate up to 2000 pounds of pressure, popping
off just about any coating or sealer applied over them (more so because these coatings are probably applied to
a crumbling, weak or dirty surface to begin with).
NEW MINERAL GROWTH THAT 'POPPED' OFF THE CLEAR EPOXY SEALER
After cleaning the surface, the best attempt to fix this problem is our Bio Vee Seal. This product is designed
to soak into the concrete and form its own crystals below the surface, thus clogging' up the concrete and reducing
the ability of the water to move through the concrete. This is an easy and cheap, first attempt to fix the problem.
In addition to, or instead of, the next option is to apply two coats (always better than one coat!) of a watery,
thin epoxy. Generally this epoxy is thinned with solvent to help it penetrate' into the concrete a little bit,
giving it a better, stronger bond. This would be our ESP 155 solvent thinned epoxy or our solvent free Low V epoxy
which you have (or have not) added some solvent. We suggest two coats because it is most likely that with just
one coat there will be tiny pinholes' where the coating is missing. We've seen the water literally jet' out of
these invisible coating pinholes. With two coatings hopefully these thin or missed spots are covered in the second
coating.
FRESH MINERAL SALTS/CRYSTALS THAT DEVELOPED THROUGH PINHOLES AND THIN SPOTS
IN THE EPOXY COATING
The next optional step is more of the epoxy or a thicker epoxy paint. This step gives a thicker overall coating
to the wall or floor, and these epoxies are often pigmented (compared to the clear coatings above). Two problems
with the clear coatings: being clear they are harder to see how evenly or completely you are applying the coating
(we sell pigments that you can use to tint the clear epoxy), and secondly, the clear epoxy looks like a puddle
of water, exactly what you were trying to get rid of!
So with these kind of problem we generally suggest trying the Bio Vee Seal and then any or all of the other epoxy
coating options. You might take them one at a time and see if or which one finally solves the problem.
WALL/FLOOR CRACKS
Here again you have options. The most simple and direct is to simply apply a thick goopy epoxy gel/paste (or even
a less thick epoxy paint) into and along the crack. Our Crack Coat epoxy gel is a favorite here. This often, but
not always, works. Again, even just one tiny pinhole left behind and the water will squirt out like a jet. The
best plan is therefore 2 or 3 coats of the epoxy. It is also an option to use a thin or solvent thinned epoxy as
the first coat (as a primer or sealer) as this thinner first coat will probably "soak" in a bit and provide
a stronger bond to the thicker top coat epoxy (as well as help prevent those nasty pinholes in the thicker coating).
CRACK REPAIR WITH THICK EPOXY
On larger cracks I have been successful using fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin (like building a boat) to tape'
over the crack. This is sort of like using a band-aid' and first aid cream, instead of just the first aid cream
on the crack.
FLOOR/WALL SEAMS
Leaks along the floor and wall seam are very common. The bad news is that if you just fix the area around the current
leak, the leak will probably just move farther along to the next weak link'. You may have to seal the entire length
of the wall, or perhaps all the way around the entire room.
The first step is to get it area as dry and clean as you can. Lots of dirt/mud gets drawn in with the water and
you cannot seal or coat the dirt and expect it to be effective. The best fix approach here is to first paint'
the seam (about 4-6 inches out onto the floor and about 4-6 inches up the wall) with a semi thin epoxy like our
clear Low V epoxy or our pigmented industrial floor epoxy. A coat or two or three of this might stop the leak (but
don't count on it!). After this first coat of epoxy has cured, the next move is to apply more epoxy with fiberglass
cloth along the seam and on top of the first layer of epoxy (sort of like taping' the seam). There will be pinholes
and leaks' in the cloth/epoxy layer (especially in rough surface areas, corners, and at the ends/beginnings of
the strips of fiberglass cloth). So, once the epoxy/cloth layer has cured, one more coating of the same epoxy is
brushed over the epoxy/cloth layer. This usually does the trick, albeit, a 3 coat system (in most cases, unless
you're lucky).
 
FIXING THE FLOOR WALL SEAM WITH CLEAR EPOXY, THEN GRAY EPOXY WITH FIBERGLASS CLOTH
(Cinder) BLOCK WALLS
The density and particle size in the blocks that make up these walls varies a lot. Generally the Bio Vee Seal will
not work as the gaps and voids it tries to fill are too big. The best attempt at a fix here is simply several coats
of epoxy paint or resin. It will take more than one plus coats to seal it completely as there is no way you will
able to fill all the indents'/voids/spaces that make up the surface with just one roller or brush applied coat.
Releated Links
also visit: Epoxies for the Home (home4u.html)
More on all kinds of leaks: CLICK HERE (leak.html) .
More on basements: CLICK HERE (seal4u.html) .
Internal concrete sealer (Bio Vee Seal ) CKICK HERE (vee4u.html)
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Links to Products
* Bio Vee Seal
* ESP 155
* Low V
* pigment
* Industrial Floor Epoxy
* fiberglass cloth
* Crack Coat Epoxy
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DISCLAIMER: The above comments are simply that, comments and ideas. The ability of these or other products to
seal a basement or sump is not guaranteed as many factors beyond just the sealing product comes into play.
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