DIY Basement Waterproofing.

It’s a wonderful day an age where most projects in the home are considered DIY (do-it-yourself). However, being that I’m personally familiar with the complexities of basement waterproofing, when people ask me “do you know of any DIY Basement Waterproofing kits?” I sadly can’t help but laugh.

Every project that I’ve seen done DIY to waterproof a basement has failed. Paints, Sealants, make-shift sump pump “cut outs” with wood hole covers, drilled holes in the concrete floor, the list just gets more horrific with every passing week it seems.

The reason I stress that Basement Waterproofing shouldn’t be a DIY project is because it’s dealing directly with the support network for your whole home: The Foundation.

Basement waterproofing, when done properly in the interior of the basement, requires that you remove part of the floor next to the wall. You do this to uncover the footing of the home. A drain is placed along the footing, pitched and eventually will connect to a sump basin that cannot be more than 19” deep. Any deeper and you can disrupt the soil underneath the footing and possibly undermining the foundation (causing it to callapse).

If you’re hell bent on doing the project yourself take into consideration the following ideas in planning your diy waterproofing project:

1.) Materials: there are only a few drains out there that redirect water from both the wall/footing direction and from underneath the slab. Most drains do one or the other, not both

2.) Standard sump basins are too deep. This can seriously cause foundation issues down the road.

3.) Sealents and Paints don’t work. Both are not true vapor barriers and both will not lead the water properly to a drain system. Consider the use of a full wall protection Vapor Barrier like HD TuffSheild.

4.) If any drain has holes smaller than 1.25” x .75” don’t use them. They’re apt to clogging and bacteria build up. Most of the black corrugated piping clogs easier and is much more uncontrollable once you put it in the floor. Punched drain holes are better than drilled drain holes for the same reasons.

5.) If you can’t find these parts on your own you can try a place like Basement Depot in order for find the proper materials.

Products I know to meet these above standards: GrateDrain, GrateSump, Various Vapor Barriers, and all of these can be found through Pioneer Basement or other Grate Products Installers / Dealers