Rotten basement room? No thanks! – Igor's LAB in the dry or "We build ourselves a modern office" | Part 1

Drastic measure – we dig up the house

Friends in the landscaping business strongly advised me to expose the wall, let it dry, and then reseal it. Otherwise, you would not get the moisture out of the wall and keep bringing mold into the house. I definitely can't use that. Especially not in the room where I work 8 hours a day and then still spend my free time. The same Friday evening that the "okay" came from the homeowner, an excavator was organized, the next day a professional excavator driver was hired for the following Monday, and the next morning the work of removing the paving stones began.

An hour and a half later, the drop was already sucked and the stones neatly put aside.

Monday morning we woke up the neighbors a bit rudely by shaking the chain excavator once across the place.

Short planning, how everything should proceed and then it went off. The excavator operator first familiarized himself with the rented equipment and checked its technical condition. Good man, I would never have known the oil level was critical!

Let's go…

The "waterproofing" of the wall was, of course, only wastepaper after 55 years. There was practically nothing left of the black paint and the roofing felt glued to it fell apart at the slightest touch.

We also found the drainage. Finest clay pipes. That's just how it was back then, and contrary to expectations, the pipes were even still free.

Approx. 25 tons, equivalent to a good 17m³ were excavated. You would never have moved that by hand in your life with the limestone floor!

The wall was then allowed to dry for several weeks, covered with a tarp before any threat of rain. What a cramp! Good for me: we had a very dry August and the direct sunlight did a great job.

 

Once the exterior of the wall was dust dry, the loose plaster and anything that could potentially fall off was removed and then a new coat of black paint was applied. Because there was still no real homogeneity after the first coat, a second coat was applied immediately. Deep black, that's how I imagined it.

No half measures! After the black coat had dried, a bituminous thick coat was applied. In contrast to the thermal paste, the following applies here: A lot helps a lot, so always on it with the stuff!

In order to further protect the coating from mechanical effects and also to provide some insulation, XPS boards were bonded to the thick coating.

When the paint and insulation layer had cured, a gravel bed was first backfilled and then a new drainage pipe was connected to the carefully exposed ends. To allow air to circulate between the soil and the insulation boards, a dimpled membrane was also applied. This should be tight for the next few years…

Backfilling will have to wait until spring, though, because we couldn't get our hands on a vibratory plate for compaction on short notice before the frost came. It will be interesting to see whether the driveway will ever be passable again.