Cementing Basement Walls

[classicman]

Originally Posted by piercehawkeye45

My roommate last year used water soluble paint to decorate....
apparently the paint does not come off with water, soap, or paint remover.

Where is this roommate now? Was he on the lease when this happened?
Seems like he is culpable in this. After all his painting started the problem.

[tw]

Originally Posted by piercehawkeye45

So now our landlord wants to cement over the basement, most likely on our dime.

The cement (plaster) must have something to stick to. Cement will not stick to latex paint (assuming you meant latex interior wall paint). The process of 'sticking' involves a bonding of that cement to something that the cement can be absorbed into - cinder block, concrete, stone. That cement would just peal off the paint.

You might consider a sand blasting solution. Or (if you can address the flood and humidity problems) high pressure water hose.

What is the basement vintage and material? 1930 concrete? That was typically sandy. Often easier to remove paint from. And yes, you do have in interesting problem - ignoring the legal aspects.

[Aliantha]

The reason you couldn't get the graffiti off is because cement will absorb the colour. It's porus(sp?).

I agree with monster about your friend. Did you give him a swift kick up the arse?

I also agree that you shouldn't have to parge the whole thing but you should have to fix it by painting it. Surely painted walls will look better than bare cement anyway.

My other suggestion is to wait till he goes out next time and do a runner.

[piercehawkeye45]

Originally Posted by monster

If it's in his name, it's his problem, presumably you have recept/proof of all monies paid to him so it should be pretty easy to demonstrate his "oversight" in this matter.

Yup.

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Why can't you just use a cement colored paint, like gray, or something used on garage floors and repaint the whole thing. Re-cementing is a stupid and costly way to cover up paint on a cement wall. Resist.

I've asked that question and have not gotten a response yet. My email server is down right now so she may have responded. I don't know. I will send an email from another address tomorrow morning if it does not go back up. But anyways, I talked to someone who works for a company that basically can destroy an entire house and build it back up again and he suggested painting as well. No one seems to know why we HAVE to cement it over. That is why my alarm is going off.

Originally Posted by classicman

If there is water seeping in or the wall is moist nothing is going to fix that until that issue is dealt with.

No water seepage.

Originally Posted by dmg1969

I would recommend having an estimate from at least 2 or 3 PROFESSIONAL painters. Get their opinions and estimates and take them to the landlord. Tell them the plan to get the property back to a satisfactory condition and tell him that YOU and your roommate(s) are the ones paying.

That's more or less what I'm leaning towards right now. My summer job doesn't start until next Tuesday so I've been keeping the house in very good condition and the maintenance guy said he was VERY impressed by it yesterday so at least I have that going for me. As for the basement, there is no doubt we will pay for a repainting of the basement. It was a very stupid mistake in hindsight, the porous cement makes sense now, and we will have to take responsibility for it. But, since the other half of the basement is falling apart from wear and tear I don't want him to take advantage of us and make us pay for cementing it over if he was going to be forced to do that anyways.

I will pay for painting over what we did. I am not paying (or at least will fight it) for him to remodel the entire basement. It looked like shit to begin with. That is exploitation. I realize we put ourselves in that position but there is a line.

Originally Posted by classicman

Where is this roommate now? Was he on the lease when this happened?
Seems like he is culpable in this. After all his painting started the problem.

I don't know where this is going so I am putting off a front like my roommates and I are on the exact same page. In reality we are not and it is getting extremely frustrating. So, currently, I am "protecting" the roommate as of now but in private we are making sure he puts in his fair share. But last thing I want right now is for everyone to start getting mad and blaming each other.

[classicman]

I was just wondering.
From what I gather, one tenant (Bob) decided to paint the walls (reason unknown) and is apparently no longer living there. After which you, and I assume other roommates, tried to cover what he did because it looked like crap. Just wasn't sure if he disappeared or not.

Thats about it.