www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

Hi Guys, it's been a while since i last posted, been working too hard to start any other DIY projects, but NOW THE TIME HAS COME!!

I have an old 1890's victorian house which has a large 6' 8" ceilinged cellar, (which is rare for cellars around my patch, most of them i cant even stand up properly in). The walls are years old painted original brick, of which the paint and brick surface is quite crumbley and dusty, but when scraped down reveal fairly nice solid brickwork.

The cellar is mildly damp, nothing too serious, no smells, just flakey walls.

Would i be right in saying that i could remove all the loose paint, mortar, and brick faces with a scraper and pva + water seal them and use normal indoor emulsion paint to make my walls clean and fresh again????

Have heard sooo many different sealing methods and so many different paints googling it is just a confusing excersice for me and i am left still none the wiser.......Anyone done this sort of thing in the past???

Thank you in advance everyone

David

PS Not after turning it into a living room or anything just want to make a clean and tidy room down there to bring it back to life

I definately would not use PVA or emulsion.

I'd give it a good clean and then paint it with some cellar paint

If you did ever want to turn it into a livable room it is a much bigger and more costly exercise-

basement damp proofing

basement drainage

I've installed the system in UHM's first link, and it's not a hard job.

Thanks guys for your input, what would be the reason why you should NOT used a pva based product after a wall clean up?? Is it because of the fact that you would be SEALING IN the moisture and dampness in the wall???

Are there many colour choices in the cellar paint?? Is this a sealer and a paint all in one???

thanks again guys

Wouldn't moisture re-activate the PVA and make it go sticky again?

it would be like pva'ing the inside of a swimming pool wall. using something water based on a substance that is constantly damp won't achieve anything.

In addition, the best solution os to install a system that allows the walls to breath and release moisture. That's why systems like the one in UHM's link are favoured over old fasioned tanking these days.