Wood Basement exterior treatment
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| Posted in Energy Efficiency and Durability on
I have a cabin with a wood basement. This crawl space is about 3 feet high on the outside. It was treated with something which is black in colour but doesn’t look or smell like tar. It is all treated wood of course but the c oaring is weathering off and I would like to apply something. Can you make any recommendations.
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Replies
Robert,
Your description is confusing.
1. Is this a basement or a crawl space?
2. Are you describing a wood foundation made entirely of pressure-treated lumber (along with lots of crushed stone for drainage) as described here?
http://www.toolbase.org/Technology-Inventory/Foundations/wood-foundations
3. Why do you want to coat the wood? Just for cosmetic reasons?
Robert- have a look at Black poly plastic sheeting was often used. I've heard this is often combined with peel-n-stick these days.
Oops- the link didn't make it through cyber space. Try again: http://www.southernpine.com/pdf/ref400.pdf
Thanks Chris. It is a foundation which is about 3 ft high around the perimeter of the cabin. I have access through a trap door in the floor to look after plumbing, wiring etc. We call is a crawl space, others in our area call it a basement. Not sure of the correct term. It has a sand floor covered about 50% by poly. The walls are made of treated wood and who ever built this cabin coved this exterior wall with a black substance which was painted on. It is weathered bad and I was looking to replace it. My reason is nothing more than it was done and possibly should be done again. Cosmetically it would look better as well. I would use the same product if I could find it as it has lasted 13 years.
Robert,
I'm not sure, but it sounds like black paint.
Martin, I don't think it is paint as it appears to thick for paint. I scratched it to see if I could smell a pitch or asphalt smell and there was no discernible smell to it. There are some ridges where it was rolled on and this is where I tried my scratch and smell test. Could it be some kind of a urethane coating?
Robert,
There's no way to tell what type of coating it is from your description. If this is pressure-treated plywood with an old, peeling finish, I would advise scraping and sanding the plywood and putting on whatever type of finish or paint you want. Wear a dust mask if you decide to sand the finish.
Martin,thanks for your reply.That is exactly what I will do. I was concerned that although treated it should have some weather treatment and since it is exposed and not buried I like the paint option. I wasn't sure what I should do based on what I saw was already done. Thanks again.