That $250 waterproofing job I did last spring is already failing

Had a chat with my neighbor Dave last week who's been a contractor for like 20 years. He saw me patching a spot in my basement wall and asked what sealer I used. I told him the big box store stuff and he just shook his head. Apparently those acrylic sealers from Home Depot are basically a temporary fix for Edmonton's clay soil. He said the ground shifts so much here during freeze-thaw cycles that you need a flexible polyurethane or the seal cracks right open. I went down to check my work from April and sure enough there's hairline cracks all along the areas I painted. Now I gotta scrape it all off and redo it with the proper stuff from a real masonry supplier. Has anyone else had luck with the rubberized coatings for Edmonton's climate or is that just another gimmick too?

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avery_foster314mo ago

Man that's how it always goes, cheap fix costs more in the long run.

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benb214mo ago

Yeah I actually read a piece recently about how those cheap plastic parts they use in newer appliances just don't hold up. They'll save you maybe 50 bucks upfront but then you're replacing the whole thing in a year. It's like the old saying about buying the best you can afford the first time around.

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