We've been hard at work on our basement lately. Since we've owned this house, we've had issues with water and a musty smell. After some investigation, we discovered that the walls were never properly sealed. Normally, the outside of the foundation would be coated in tar to prevent water from seaping through. This foundation was poured before that was considered something "good" to do. The previous owner had coated the interior of the walls with joint compound and then painted. Needless to say, this was not an effective sealer. Over time, water had caused the paint to peel off in places and we needed to remove all of the paint and joint compound to start over. The project began with lots of scraping and powerwashing. Matt needed motivation several times through the project to keep moving forward. Good thing Don and Lori are here to keep things moving. The scraping and powerwashing were big jobs, but left the least mess and kept us from toxic paint remover that would have required us to evacuate the house. Once the paint and joint compound were removed, we went back with two heavy coats of sealer. It was a lot of work too, but worth it to know that the walls are now properly sealed. We'll give it some time, but hopefully our musty smell will disappear.
He knows how to open the door now, so I have to lock it if I really need him to stay out. He also knows that if I'm on the phone he needs to be quiet. He puts his finger to his lips and says "ssssshhhhhh".
