what is the cheapest way you can fix leaking block basement walls?

Question

When it rains hard my basement floods and it looks like the walls are sweating

Answer 1

I myself would get some water tight caulking for any obvious cracked blocks.., seal those cracks and allow it time to dry. NEXT I would use swimming pool paint and paint the walls with at least two coats.

Assuming your floors are bare concrete - when caulking, seal around the areas where wall meets floor. Paint the floors with the same paint.., two or three coats. if you don't, the water that seeps in through the walls can enter the basement through the floor.

WARNING! Make sure to read the labeling on both products. If paint is flammable and you have gas heater or water heater to turn off the gas line to these and double check the pilot lights are out. You don't want to be playing a contemporary version of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, waving bye-bye to the International Space Station crew. :-)

Answer 2

The best way to prevent your basement from flooding/leaking is to first dig up around the perimeter of your house, clean the exterior block walls, and then coat them with a coal tar epoxy. The add a drainage system at the bottom of the trench to keep any water from ponding around your house. Then backfill and make sure to slope the final elevation of dirt away from your house.
As a secondary measure, you can paint the inside of your basement walls with dry-loc or other waterproofing coating.
If these methods don't take care of the problem, then you can install a drainage system inside the basement, with collection to a sump and pump any water to the outside.

Answer 3

start with Drylock available at Lowes or Home depot.
If that does not work ...try a contrctor's grade waterproofing agent like United Products Walltite or a external below grade product like WR Grace's Bituthene 3000.
And like someone else pointed out caulk the floor/wall seams with a product like Dow Corning's 790 or Tremco's Vulkem 45.

Answer 4

If it's just sweating, you could paint with a waterproofing paint. You may need to tuckpoint them if there are gaps between the blocks.

Answer 5

for permenently solving the problem u should recement if its a bricked wall,or else try coating it with plaster of paris.better u go for the first one even though its costly its reliable but u can also work it out with the second one

Answer 6

call B-DRY they do fabulous work and is guaranteed for life. free estamates too

Answer 7

check your hardware store, they should have some type of roll on coating

Answer 8

blockbond but it has to be dry to apply