We had our first serious downpour yesterday since I built the wee parapet around the base of my furnace as a lazy man’s stopgap. So while I was drinking beer, the basement was filling with water again. This morning I ventured to the dungeon for a looksee and much like opening a kiln to see if your new glaze worked or not, I turned the light on and cast a glance toward the furnace, seeing this…
Water, water everywhere and my little wall was a complete failure. The circles on the pictures indicate breaks in the wall that leave more than 1/4 inch gap. This is the most enigmatic part of the result as the cement container says in big letters on the label… “will not shrink”. The majority of the work I did was roughing up the surface of the floor so the concrete would have some tooth to adhere to and that was the biggest joke of all as the entire wall completely separated from the floor all the way around and I was able to push it aside with a mere pinky on my left hand.
Que sera, sera. I guess if I’m gonna go with stopgaps, I need to get with it and go whole hog for a 21st century solution. I think if it ever gets dry again before winter, I will just put some wooden boards down and caulk the bejebus out of them with some high performance waterproof caulk… the adventure continues. Here’s the bowl I posted to Etsy yesterday (1st click to Etsy, others enlarge)…
September 21, 2009 at 9:54 am |
Jim, my husband, who used to be a concrete finisher, Gary, said you can re-use the dam you already built and epoxy it to the floor and then I advise painting redgard over the concrete. Gary also said in order for the concrete to bond to the lower concrete you would have to drill holes in the existing concrete and fill the holes have some rebar coming up through the hole into the new concrete. I know the redgard works pretty good – it is what I used on my shower under the tile – paint it on and wait till it turns color – it’s not cheap though. Wish you could correct the original problem of where the water is coming from and keep it from coming in. Where are those TV people when you need them – you know the one with the three guys who actually come over to your house and fix the problem for you – might be worth a try.
September 21, 2009 at 10:49 am |
rats! Gorgeous bowl though amigo
September 21, 2009 at 11:38 am |
Are yall getting as much rain in KY as we are in Atlanta? We are drowning here — huge problems with flooding all over the metro area. I agree with Linda – it’d be best to stop the water from coming in — easier said than done.
Love the bowls!
September 21, 2009 at 12:10 pm |
Sorry about your water woes. We created a similar concrete dam to direct water off one of our external concrete slabs (lotsa concrete here in Puerto Rico). Following the local custom, we used a bonding agent (such as http://www.lancopaints.com/english/products/6.1.2_bonding_agents.html ) between the old and new concrete (no rebar) and so far, the dam still stands. Hey, we’re all for stopgaps!
Beautiful bowl!
September 21, 2009 at 2:37 pm |
Both Linda Starr and Miri have the answers.
This sort of stuff is what I do in order to earn money, as opposed to what I’d do if money was not a daily need.
Old concrete and new concrete do not readily bond. Physical bonding, like rebar, is good, or you could use some bonding agent. I use PVA building adhesive. I’d paint a thinned coat onto the floor, then a thick coat once the thinned one was starting to dry, then lay a new cement/sand mix, with some pva in the mixing water.
To be extra sure, you could add some chopped fibre, a builders supply merchant will have it, or a concrete depot. You need very little, but just like fibre in paperclay, it’s miraculous in stopping cracking.
However, your other idea would work just as well, a hardwood barrier, sealed down with a good sealant. NOT a silicone! A butyl based sealant, such as is used for sealing boats and gutters will adhere well to both concrete and wood, but I’d screw the wood down as well.
Question still is where is this wetness coming from? Can it be stopped before it gets there?
Or could you put in a floor drain? Or a sump pit with a pump?
September 21, 2009 at 6:13 pm |
can’t you raise the thingy off the ground that you’re trying to protect?? prob not you would have thought of that, what do i know???? nice bowl!!
September 22, 2009 at 6:31 am |
I was thinkin’ the same thing as Ang… how about a few strong guys to pick it up and some cinder or landscaping blocks to shove under the furnace? You might have to hack the vents on top and rebuild them, but that can’t be much harder than building a damn all the way around the furnace… again. Good luck!