Moisture and Water Problems Part 3

As I said in part II my goals were to:
1. Paint the floor in the sewing room and in the unfinished basement with Watertite paint
2. Hang the drywall in the unfinished sewing room closet where the oil tank was. This involved waterproofing cement wall, insulate the wall with Styrofoam, hang drywall, and install a closet organizer.
3. Repair exposed cement walls and paint them with Watertite paint.

Here is what I completed over the winter.

I did get the floor painted in the sewing and craft room except for the floor space in the unfinished closet.

The unfinished closet is still in its unfinished glory to my chagrin. As you can see there is a lot of work to be done before I can drywall it.

Lastly there is the unfinished basement, this is largely undone except for half a wall along the south side and a small portion for the floor in front of it. I have three exposed basement walls that need cleaning, patching and painting.

My biggest problem in doing the work was the curing time required for each step. When I started I have no idea it would take so long. First I would wash the walls and floor with TSP and wait a week for the wall to dry with the dehumidifier turned on. Brush off loose cement and paint with a wire brush then chisel open cracks along the wall. After completing the wall preparation, I mixed up the hydraulic cement and fill in the cracks and holes. It takes a week for the hydraulic cement to cure before any painting can begin. The preparation time usually would take two to three weeks because I would keep finding new areas which needed more work. Then I could finally paint but after reading the direction for Watertite paint, I found they recommended at least three possibly four coats of paint. I found it took three coats for the floor and four coats for the walls. The walls required more paint because the surface was grainy and full of little pits. Once the painting was done you should at least wait a week before moving anything on the newly painted floor.

Another reason it has been taking soon long is the unfinished section is mainly storage. After reading many of your blogs I have seen many pictures of basements being cleaned up this winter, my basement does not look much different from those before pictures. I have been going through my storage area trying to reduce it but I think what is left are heirlooms and Christmas decorations, so I am not throwing these out. So it comes down to where can I find the space to move them, so I can work on the next wall section.

To sum it up the basement project is done until next winter because I need to start working on another unfinished project from last summer. What project is that, PAINTING THE HOUSE.