There are a lot of home owners updating their homes by redoing their basements. This is very practical living space that in the past has mostly been used for storing unused things or housing our washers and dryers. Often times when individuals decide to use the basement for added living space, they will start the remodeling task without hiring additional help. This can be quite an undertaking in itself, but even more so if there is a problem to deal with like water condensation that has to be resolved.
If you have ever had a basement with condensation problems, you could probably not necessarily tell it by the wet look of the cinder block or cemented walls, but by the stuffy damp smell that they can have. If you have decided to finish your basement and you have found moist walls down there, you have to correct this problem before you do anything. Even when you do not desire to ever make a living space in your basement, you should repair the condensation problem anyway due to the gradual water damage it can do to the wood that is subjected to it.
To test your basement walls for moisture, take a large section of plastic wrap, perhaps a foot or more, and tapes it to the basement wall tightly. Leave it there for a few days and then notice if there is dampness on the inside or outside of the plastic. If there is moisture on the inside then the water could be coming from a problem somewhere in the basement, but if it is on the outside, then it is a condensation problem.
If it is a leak making damp walls, they can usually be easily repaired. To resolve condensation, you must find the source. It may be a clothes dryer with exhaust that is not getting to the outside the right way, from hot water moisture from a shower or tub because there is no exhaust fan, from cooking moisture, from dew, or from leaking basement pipes. Any of these problems may be fixed and have to be prior to putting up sheet rocked walls in a basement.
Exhaust ventilators in your basement should help get rid of the moisture that might build up especially when there is a shower, tub, or cooking steam getting in there. Rotating air with a fan may help somewhat. Putting insulation around duct work, pipes, and walls will also help eliminate dampness. Water will not gather on these surfaces if you do not permit the cold air to get to them.
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