# Basement walls crumbling



## NaveenM (Nov 28, 2012)

Revisiting this thread from earlier this year. I never actually did anything with fixing the crumbling walls, but would like to try.

To recap:

I have an old 1920's style house where the basement walls are crumbling. Per this article, the brick was coated with a soil-lime mix coating.

When a contractor came in to redo the floors, his guys patched up a few holes and some exposed brick with mortar. (See photo below).

But as you can see from the other photos, the soil-lime mix is disintegrating. I'd like to mortar over it to keep it intact and avoid the dirt/dust that comes with the disintegration.

Here are some shots of the basement wall, along with what some patching a contractor did when he redid the floors.

Accumulation of dust from slow deterioration:









Closeup of some deterioration:









Patchwork done by contractor:









My question is, what would I use to do some patchwork or put a coat on the walls as the contractor did? Some portland cement? Don't want to go overboard, just create a new outer layer for the walls so the dust stops accumulating.

Any help is greatly appreciated!


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## throrope (Oct 30, 2015)

I'm surprised you haven't gotten any takers on this.

I had a twin years ago with the same style stone foundation and since then only poured concrete is better.

I suspect half of Philly has similar foundation and likely many know how to make repairs. I suggest greater research. I caution you on "Don't want to go overboard" because every time I've done or witnessed that approach, the effort expended accomplished nothing.

I wish I could provide more.


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

All that damage is coming from water getting in from the outside.
Issue needs to be addressed from the outside before any repairs being done inside.
Gutters.
Water proofing the outside of the foundation.
No mulch or flower beds forming ponds against the foundation.
Grade running away from the foundation.


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## dbrown_rn (Dec 15, 2015)

I have an almost identical problem. From the research I have done, it sounds like the modern mortar and cement we use today are to strong for this type of foundation. Mortar is designed to fail before the stone, intentionally. Mortar doesn't just lock everything together, but it allows for normal expansion and contraction to occur without injury to the foundation. By adding mortar or cement that is stronger than the stone, you run the risk of the actual stone cracking and failing.


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## JJMc (Dec 18, 2015)

I have similar basement walls in a 1920 Wisconsin house. Stone foundation with a lime and clay parging on the interior. The parging comes apart easily even where there is no moisture. I painted a section 4 years ago with DryLok latex waterproofing paint and it is coming off in patches.
I plan to create a stable surface with a coat of stucco: portland cement, lime, and sand in a premixed bag. This is a big project!
After the stucco I will paint it with two coats of Permaflex, a two-part rubber sealer, to stop radon infiltration. That's what started this project. 

I have applied Permaflex in a couple small wall areas already and it has adhered tightly for several years. It was slow and frustrating though because the old parging was coming apart and had to be cleaned out of the brush frequently.


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## NaveenM (Nov 28, 2012)

Thanks guys. I think I will call in an expert at least to take a look and give me a rundown on what I'm facing.

Still hoping I can do it myself. And in the meantime, I'm going to look for a way to at least contain that dirt and dust. The contractor left up some plastic sheeting to do this (as you can see in some of the pics), but I'll have to look into putting up some more.


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