Can I use pavement sealer to water proof a basment floor?
Question:We purchased a house recently that has a unfinished basment but had 3 5 gallon buckets of pavement searler left here. This being our first house I am wondering if I can use this to seal the floor in the basment?
Answers:
That isn't the appropriate coating to use. Your basement floor will be subjected to hydrostatic pressure. That's where the moisture in the ground actually pushes up through the floor. It usually leaves a whitish hazing or "blushing" on the surface called efflorescence. This pressure will blow off just about any coating that is not specifically designed to deal with it. (Which your pavement sealer is usually not rated for.)
The best thing to do is this: Prep the floor by cleaning it very well with a Muriatic acid solution to remove the efflorescence, making sure to rinse VERY WELL. After allowing it dry as much as possible, apply a product like Dry Lock, which is specifically designed to resist the pressures inherent in basement floors.
I wouldn't.
Possibly, it would be better to know a little more about the sealer itself and the condition and type of floor. If it is bare concrete without a previous sealer then it would maybe work. You could test to see if the floor would allow penetration of the sealer at all by sprinkling a little water onto the floor and see if it beads or soaks in. Also some sealers will fail if water is migrating up from the ground as it will force itself to the surface causing the sealer to.de-laminate, for lack of a better description. To test for water migration, duct tape a square of plastic down for a few days and see if moisture is present on the underside of the plastic when you pull it up. Finally, see if the sealer is recommended for the type of floor it is to be used on. If it is that black, asphalt type of sealer, then I would not use it regardless.
we seal basement floors all the time. read label and if it is for concrete floors, go for it, after all the sealer didnt cost you anything and if it doesnt work your only out a little labor...
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