Basement Condensation

If you’ve just moved into a new space, or if you want to try and finish an unfinished basement, you may be tempted to lay down a few layers of paint. Before you do, it is important to look over your basement walls for signs of water damage.

If you live in a home that you know is prone to water damage, then putting paint on your basement walls—especially if they are concrete—can be risky. By checking your walls over before you start painting, you can determine whether or not it is safe to proceed with your remodeling.

As you look over your basement, you’ll want to keep a close eye out for:

• Inconsistent temperatures
• Condensation on the walls
• Sticking doors and window frames
• Unusual or unpleasant smells

Overcoming Damp Basements With Professional Guidance

If you find that you have unusual amounts of moisture in your home, you’re going to want to speak with a professional about potential repairs before moving forward with your remodeling. This way, you can clear unwanted moisture out of your basement before it has time to develop into a more significant problem.

You’ll need to undergo all of this work to keep your basement—and your later paint job—as clean as possible. Paint, even waterproof paint, if left for too long, provides mold particles with a place to settle and grow. Bare concrete, comparatively, does not. If you paint your basement walls before waterproofing your basement or otherwise ridding the area of excessive amounts of water, you risk opening your home up to a mold infestation.

The paint on your walls can start to bubble for myriad reasons. The most common include but are not limited to:

• Dirt and grime beneath the paint. It’s in your best interest to try and clean your walls before you paint them. If dust or other materials get stuck beneath your new paint job, it’s possible that the paint you lay down will start to pull away from the wall, leaving bubbles in its wake.
• A lack of primer. It can be tempting to skip over the process of priming your basement walls, especially if you’re in a hurry to finish up your basement. Unfortunately, doing so leaves your paint in contact with concrete and other materials when they’re at their most porous. As such, that paint can be more readily absorbed into your supporting materials. If the paint doesn’t stick in the first place, it can begin to lift away from the walls of your basement in little to no time at all.
• Excessive amounts of moisture in the air. Moisture can cause paint to pull away from the walls in your basement. Not only that, but high levels of humidity in your home can also cause mold clusters to develop between a layer of paint and your wall’s structural material. As such, bubbles can both be the paint pulling away from the concrete of the wall and the hint of a mold presence in your home.
• Excessive heat. If the bubbles in your paint job start to appear shortly after you finish your paint job, take a look at the temperature. It is possible for paint to start to blister if it is exposed to high temperatures on an overly consistent basis. To fix a heat-induced bubbling paint job, you’ll want to remove the paint bubbles on the wall, prime and paint the surface again, and use your HVAC system to better control the temperature in your basement.
• Inappropriate roller cover usage. At the end of the day, it is possible that you used an inappropriate roller cover or nap length when applying your paint to your walls. You’ll want to check in with representatives at your local hardware store to determine what type of roller cover and nap length may best suit the walls in your basement if you want to avoid this problem.

As mentioned, the most common reasons paint tends to bubble when exposed to concrete include:

• Excessive moisture
• Excessive heat
• Dirty walls
• Poor roller usage
• Lack of primer 

To get more specific, however, paint tends to bubble more frequently on porous surfaces like concrete because of how concrete responds to hydrostatic pressure.

Hydrostatic pressure is a force generated by the moisture in the ground around your home. After heavy rain, that pressure can force the molecules of your foundation and basement to rapidly shrink and contract based on the materials’ temperature changes. To try and compensate for those rapid changes, the structural supports in your foundation and basement may crack.

Contending With Hydrostatic Pressure

Bubbles in paint put on concrete in your basement can start to appear in greater frequency when the hydrostatic pressure outside of your home grows more significant. On one hand, you can look for paint blisters, then, if you suspect your home may be at risk for a leak. However, the presence of paint blisters in your basement also means you’ll not only have to repaint those walls, but it may be in your best interest to reach out to a professional engineer to investigate potential repairs for your home as well as future waterproofing solutions that may serve you well.

Some people believe waterproof paint has a better chance of surviving on your basement walls than regular paint does. In some cases, it is possible for this paint to withstand hydrostatic pressure more gracefully than traditional paint. However, waterproof paint does not remain waterproof forever. Like basement and foundation sealants, it will eventually become less effective at dispelling water from your home. In turn, it will start to bubble and can become a haven for mold.

You do have the option of fixing bubbling paint on your own time. To do so, you’ll need to bring a toolkit together including:

• A putty knife
• Sandpaper
• Wall cleaner or a gentle general cleanser
• Rags
• Joint compound
• Primer
• The paint you want

To clear up bubbling paint, take the following steps:

• Scrape the bubbles off of the water. You can use a putty knife or a similar tool to remove paint from your walls. You need to undertake this process instead of painting over the bubbles to get back to the surface you originally painted on and make sure that it is still in good condition.
• Sand the revealed surface. For the sake of ease later down the line, take your sandpaper and smooth out the surface you intend to paint.
• Determine why the paint bubbled – The reason your paint blistered will determine your next steps. For example, if it was excessive moisture in your home that caused blisters to develop, you’re going to want to work with a professional to remove that moisture from your home before you repaint your walls. Alternatively, if your walls were simply dirty before you painted them, you’ll want to make a point of using your cleanser to clear away any grime that may still be on your walls.
• Dry out your walls. You do not want to apply primer nor paint to a wall that is damp or dirty.
• Fill any holes or pits. If there’s been some damage done to your wall, you don’t want to try and fill those gaps with paint. Instead, take your joint compound and apply it gently to your wall, all the while striving for a smooth application.
• Once dry, prime your wall. Only once the joint compound is dry and settled should you apply primer to your wall, or you risk wasting your primer.
• Repaint the cleaned area. Ideally, if you’ve cleared the wall well and repaired any damage to it and to your home, you should be able to reapply your paint without worrying about what it may look like in a day or two.