What could be seeping from my basement wall?
Someone put joint compound over the poured concrete basement wall and then painted over it. This seepage isn't water--it's a little sticky where it hasn't dried, and it appears in a few other spots in the basement.
I want to just paint over this but I was going to use a nicer latex and I'm concerned it'll bubble. but I don't even know how this paint hasn't been ruined. Any ideas on what it is, and how to not have a latex paint get ruined by it?
Question from user zudebluvstein at stackexchange
Answer:
This seepage isn't water.
I'd be surprised if it's not. Seriously, that's probably some level of water getting into the plaster. Concrete is porous and can let some level of water in. Even if it's not seeping in from the outside, the wall is in a cool, damp place where it can condense moisture in the air.
Someone put joint compound over the poured concrete basement wall and then painted over it.
To call this sloppy would be an insult to every DIY hack out there. This was plain negligence. Have you ever asked yourself "Why doesn't this happen to walls normally?". The answer is simple: vapor barriers. This is why you put faced insulation in walls. This is why you don't just bolt drywall to concrete (or be even lazier and just slap drywall mud on it and call it good).
The way to fix this is you need to air gap the wall. The normal procedure here is you frame the concrete wall with 2x4s like a normal wall (using pressure treated wood for the bottom plate that will be sitting on concrete), then add faced insulation, and finally drywall.
It's also a good idea to make sure nothing can seep in from outside. There's supposed to be a whole ecosystem of things your builder did to ensure water moves away from your foundation. The good news is the water seems to be seeping in from the top, not the bottom. That could just mean you have a minor drainage problem. Check to make sure no water can pond near your foundation, and that gutters can channel the water away.
Answer from user Machavity at stackexchange
Someone put joint compound over the poured concrete basement wall and then painted over it. This seepage isn't water--it's a little sticky where it hasn't dried, and it appears in a few other spots in the basement.
I want to just paint over this but I was going to use a nicer latex and I'm concerned it'll bubble. but I don't even know how this paint hasn't been ruined. Any ideas on what it is, and how to not have a latex paint get ruined by it?
Question from user zudebluvstein at stackexchange
Answer:
This seepage isn't water.
I'd be surprised if it's not. Seriously, that's probably some level of water getting into the plaster. Concrete is porous and can let some level of water in. Even if it's not seeping in from the outside, the wall is in a cool, damp place where it can condense moisture in the air.
Someone put joint compound over the poured concrete basement wall and then painted over it.
To call this sloppy would be an insult to every DIY hack out there. This was plain negligence. Have you ever asked yourself "Why doesn't this happen to walls normally?". The answer is simple: vapor barriers. This is why you put faced insulation in walls. This is why you don't just bolt drywall to concrete (or be even lazier and just slap drywall mud on it and call it good).
The way to fix this is you need to air gap the wall. The normal procedure here is you frame the concrete wall with 2x4s like a normal wall (using pressure treated wood for the bottom plate that will be sitting on concrete), then add faced insulation, and finally drywall.
It's also a good idea to make sure nothing can seep in from outside. There's supposed to be a whole ecosystem of things your builder did to ensure water moves away from your foundation. The good news is the water seems to be seeping in from the top, not the bottom. That could just mean you have a minor drainage problem. Check to make sure no water can pond near your foundation, and that gutters can channel the water away.
Answer from user Machavity at stackexchange