My basement is prone to getting water in it after big rains. I know that we definitely have a leak in the wall on one side of the basement so we're having a contractor come in and demo the whole basement and excavating the exterior in hopes of finding said leak. They are pretty confident they can find it easily and patch it up. Then I think we'll DRYLOK the whole thing as an added safety measure.
The other day when I was down there, I noticed several small piles of white dust scattered throughout the basement floor. I've researched this and I think what I've found are calcium deposits which I understand appear as water and moisture come through the concrete. (Am I right so far?)
I'd like to ultimately porcelain tile the basement floor (right now it has linoleum tiles) but I'd like to seal the floor somehow first. I read that DRYLOKing it will cause the thinset to not bond properly when laying the tiles. Are there other options out there?
Best Answer
Unless you truly fix the water intrusion, sealing the floor will not work. I would do a moisture transmission test in your 'wet season', after the repairs are done: secure a foot square of plastic to the floor in several locations. You should review the information here: Basement floor with lots of moisture.
A moisture meter (this one has a masonry setting) for before, during and after readings, will give you a lot of information.
Porcelain tile will, in effect, seal the floor, since porcelain tile is impervious to water (<= 0.5% water absorption). Be sure to use portland cement based thinset (the dry kind, NOT a premixed mastic "thinset").