Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Double-O Seven ... and five sixteenths

Double O Seven and 5/16s


What ya doing?

"I'm getting ready to dry the foundation. We've been waiting for weeks and it's just too damp."

How you going to dry it?

"Blow torch ... mwa-ah-ah-ah!"

You really are secret parging man, aren't you?

"You know it, baby."

6 comments:

superpragmatic said...

i love you guys.

toyfoto said...

Aw. ... Thanks. I feel the same about you guys.

Kcoz said...

What seems to be the problem with your foundation? Did you get flooded last month from all the storms in the NE ?
If your foundation was not waterproofed properly when constructed, or if old and worn away…the portion that is beneath the surface grade (at least 42”), will constantly absorb the dampness of the earth around it and ground water.

To re-waterproof a foundation is no easy task and labor intensive. One must dig away the existing dirt all around the exterior perimeter of the foundation down to the footing, allow the foundation to dry out and then re-seal it. This can be done in sections, north side first than east side…ect.

toyfoto said...

We didn't have any leaking. He just wanted to insulate. So that's what he did. Removed all the plantings, dug away the dirt, washed and fixed any crumbling places (it's a rubble foundation) let it dry, insulated the parts that were showing and parged, parged, parged.

Kcoz said...

Never heard of Parging before, so I followed your link. Appears to be a sound method and solution to your problem. The acrylic additive they spoke of appears to be for a better bond to the existing stonework, and they say it is very expensive.
Whenever we poured over existing concrete we used a concrete bonding agent that we painted and/or sprayed over the existing surface. This prevented any moister that could build up between the two surfaces from freezing and eventually popping the new surface. Prob serves the same principle as the expensive acrylic additive but could be much cheaper. This bonding agent can be purchased at any professional concrete supply outlet. Maybe purchase a small amount (a gallon) for a test area of the wall and see if it holds up better than the straight parging mix without the additive and another area with the parging mix and the additive…your own science project.

Rebecca said...

Parging is totally addictive. Thanks for the link! :)