I wanted to hear your thoughts on the advice I received at the paint store regarding painting the inside of the basement walls at home.
Background - the basement was drained and insulated two months ago because we planned to rebuild a patio outside - the alternative was to rebuild the patio, wait 3-7 years for the drainage to do its job (the house was built in '67), and then redo everything. We didn't have any "internal" reasons to do the drainage now - no moisture penetration on the inside.
Now we have started fixing one of the rooms in the basement - this is a corner room with walls facing the house on two sides and exterior walls on two sides. The room was last renovated sometime in the '70s - the inner walls had sackcloth wallpaper, and the outer walls were insulated with Styrofoam, attached with wooden studs directly against the wall and drywall on one wall and wood paneling on the other. The floor was framed with wooden studs directly on the concrete floor, insulated with "regular" insulation - possibly glass wool or whatever it might be called, and then a solid wood floor on top.
To do it right now, according to the book, it involves removing all paint directly applied on the concrete, both on walls and floors, filling in holes with repair plaster, painting with silicate paint, laying a Platon mat or steel studs on the floor, ensuring it's ventilated, etc. But let's step back a bit - I took a piece of plaster with paint on it to the paint store to check if we might be lucky that it was a diffusion-open paint on the walls, but that wasn't the case. The guy guessed it was either a baseboard paint or a ceiling paint, as it was quite matte and definitely not a diffusion-open paint. We also learned that to paint with silicate paint, the walls must be completely raw - meaning we basically need to sandblast the paint off the walls...
The guy asked about the room's condition now, and I told him the truth - surprisingly, there isn't any paint peeling anywhere in the room - the floor has some spots, but nowhere has the paint peeled or lifted at all. The insulation removed from the floor wasn't damp, nor was the Styrofoam (if it can get damp...). It smells a bit musty - but that could be because it was enclosed behind the drywall/paneling and insulation for almost 35 years... So he said that if we were to paint over the existing paint with regular wall paint in this situation, it wouldn't make things worse - if there hasn't been moisture penetration so far, it's likely there won't be now either, especially since we also re-drained and insulated.
What do you think about that advice?
Currently, we're considering a Platon mat and a wood floor on top - no wood against the floor or walls, ventilated baseboards, and actually - painting regular wall paint on the existing one after patching all screw holes. Are we shooting ourselves in the foot by painting regular wall paint, or could we trust that it won't get worse than it is now - and currently, it's not bad?
Background - the basement was drained and insulated two months ago because we planned to rebuild a patio outside - the alternative was to rebuild the patio, wait 3-7 years for the drainage to do its job (the house was built in '67), and then redo everything. We didn't have any "internal" reasons to do the drainage now - no moisture penetration on the inside.
Now we have started fixing one of the rooms in the basement - this is a corner room with walls facing the house on two sides and exterior walls on two sides. The room was last renovated sometime in the '70s - the inner walls had sackcloth wallpaper, and the outer walls were insulated with Styrofoam, attached with wooden studs directly against the wall and drywall on one wall and wood paneling on the other. The floor was framed with wooden studs directly on the concrete floor, insulated with "regular" insulation - possibly glass wool or whatever it might be called, and then a solid wood floor on top.
To do it right now, according to the book, it involves removing all paint directly applied on the concrete, both on walls and floors, filling in holes with repair plaster, painting with silicate paint, laying a Platon mat or steel studs on the floor, ensuring it's ventilated, etc. But let's step back a bit - I took a piece of plaster with paint on it to the paint store to check if we might be lucky that it was a diffusion-open paint on the walls, but that wasn't the case. The guy guessed it was either a baseboard paint or a ceiling paint, as it was quite matte and definitely not a diffusion-open paint. We also learned that to paint with silicate paint, the walls must be completely raw - meaning we basically need to sandblast the paint off the walls...
The guy asked about the room's condition now, and I told him the truth - surprisingly, there isn't any paint peeling anywhere in the room - the floor has some spots, but nowhere has the paint peeled or lifted at all. The insulation removed from the floor wasn't damp, nor was the Styrofoam (if it can get damp...). It smells a bit musty - but that could be because it was enclosed behind the drywall/paneling and insulation for almost 35 years... So he said that if we were to paint over the existing paint with regular wall paint in this situation, it wouldn't make things worse - if there hasn't been moisture penetration so far, it's likely there won't be now either, especially since we also re-drained and insulated.
What do you think about that advice?
Currently, we're considering a Platon mat and a wood floor on top - no wood against the floor or walls, ventilated baseboards, and actually - painting regular wall paint on the existing one after patching all screw holes. Are we shooting ourselves in the foot by painting regular wall paint, or could we trust that it won't get worse than it is now - and currently, it's not bad?
Diffusion-open are almost all matte paints (except plastic paint) if I have understood correctly, and ceiling paint is usually matte so it should be quite open, but it's humidity that those paints are not so good with, and it results in blisters and paint peeling.
If you don't have the energy to sandblast, just paint on and deal with the problem later if it arises.
If you don't have the energy to sandblast, just paint on and deal with the problem later if it arises.