Home Style Decorating

What should I put on the foundation of my house, damp-proofing or water proofing? You might not find this important at first but as your basement starts to leak and grow molds and mildew, you will definitely remember this issue. May homeowners don’t know the difference and importance between damp-proofing and water proofing.

Damp-proofing is the use of damp-proofing products which are typically a tar based material cut back with a solvent based product. They are cheap to apply and their effectiveness is extremely limited because they are only to designed to retard moisture penetration and not to prevent it. The main disadvantage of this is once the damp-proofing product cures they will become brittle and when cracks appear on the foundation the tar based coating will not stretch to bridge the cracks and this allows moisture to penetrate into the basement.

Water proofing is the use of water proofing products which are designed to prevent water penetration even under wet conditions such as hydrostatic pressure in the soil after heavy rain storms or spring thaws. Water proofing products does not become brittle because they contain rubber which provides superior waterproofing protection and allows the product to remain flexible even when it dries. This flexibility allows the waterproofing membrane to stretch as the foundation settles and bridge small hairline cracks.

So, always insist that the contractor will use a waterproofing material on the exterior foundation walls. This will save you a lot of money and save you from worrying. For houses that are in an area with a high water table, it will best to use a drainage board together with the water proofing so that you can be use that no water will be able to penetrate your foundation.

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