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May 30, 2006
Cellar improvement suggestion
Hi,
We want to make our cellar into a less dusty and grimy place and am looking for suggestions. We have a cement floor (unsealed) and stone walls (also unsealed) and exposed beams so that you can see the floor boards above you. We don't want to spend tons of money as we use the cellar for storage and laundry machines (which one day we will likely move) but would like to remove the grit that builds up on everything down there. We already use de-humidifiers in the summer as it gets damp, but not actually wet.
Is there any downside to sealing the floor and the walls? We had a flood once (a hose broke when we were out of town) and the water just seeped down into the cement so we assume that one downside of sealing would be that water would have to be pumped out if it flooded again. Anything else? Could sealing hurt the stone walls?
Also we thought about installing some sheetrock on the ceiling between the beams (the ceiling is too low to sheetrock under the beams). We could not do it everywhere due to pipes but it could at least improve the situation. Any other suggestions for the ceiling?
Any thoughts on any of the above would be great. Also, if anyone knows of a person who might take on this type of a job, please send recommendations as well.
Thanks!
Comments
i have a similar situation and asked a contractor about sealing the walls. he told us not to do that b/c any moisture would just get trapped and would start to dissolve the mortar between the stones.
i have the exact same setup as you, and would love to hear more suggestions about sprucing up the basement, but the house has stood for 110 years without sealing the walls...
Posted by: Anonymous at May 31, 2006 9:42 AM
The previous poster is correct. Do no seal the walls, especially if they are brick, as it will trap moisture in the walls and mortar/bricks will slowly deteriorate (same concept as painting a brownstone facade with paint that doesn't permit the stone to breath). I suppose you could use the paint available from Cathedralstone (try a google search for the website). It is designed to be breathable for painting stone and masonry.
Posted by: lp at May 31, 2006 10:47 AM
You might want to look into using a consolodation agent on the walls to prevent the sloughing of dust. We used Prosoco, which allows the walls to breath.Its clear and smells awful when it goes on.
Posted by: mhamil at May 31, 2006 11:22 AM
uh oh. I just bought a brownstone with a dirty, grimy basement. So one of the first things i did was paint the basement's stone walls white. Did i mess up, and it there anything i can do to fix it?
Posted by: Oops at May 31, 2006 12:49 PM
Oops, you'll know soon enough. If there is any moisture in the walls, you may start to get some staining or peeling paint...
Posted by: Anonymous at May 31, 2006 1:41 PM
Your house will fall down! Oh my god you have no idea what you're in for!
My GOD! WHY DID YOU, GASP, PAINT THE WALLS!??!?!?
Of course, this is all in jest.
The brick will "breathe" just fine.
Don't listen to these idiots.
Posted by: Opposition at May 31, 2006 8:53 PM
was there anything in the tone of any of the previous posts that warranted calling people "idiots"?
Posted by: Anonymous at June 1, 2006 9:17 AM
Opposition, no one said the house will fall down you fool. It just creates a long term problem that will need to be rectified at some point. The long you wait, the more damage to mortar or brick. The actual deterioration will take years.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 1, 2006 11:30 AM
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