LESLIE: Doug in Iowa, you’ve got The Money Pit. What can we help you with today?
DOUG: Yes. I was wondering if there’s a paint or is there a product out there that can cover up the water membrane on the outside of your house?
TOM: Is there a paint that can cover up the water membrane? What water membrane are you talking about?
DOUG: Well, when they put the product on the outside of the house to keep the water away from sort of leaking into the basement?
TOM: Oh, the barrier. OK.
DOUG: Yes.
TOM: Right.
DOUG: It’s exposed in our house here. It’s about two foot above my grade level and so all we see is this black …
TOM: Oh, it’s like the black, tar-like stuff is what you’re talking about.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm. That’s over the foundation wall.
DOUG: (overlapping voices) Yes.
TOM: (overlapping voices) Oh. Can you cover that? Yeah. I think you could probably paint it. I would use an epoxy paint.
DOUG: An epoxy paint.
TOM: Yeah. You’re going to get the best adhesion.
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Because that’ll stick to anything.
DOUG: OK.
TOM: Yeah, that’ll do it. That’ll do it. Yep. But make sure – you know, it sounds to me like the grade has settled a lot so if you’re going to paint, I would make sure I paint first and then I might add more grade to it and make sure it slopes away from the wall.
DOUG: (overlapping voices) Yes.
TOM: Because otherwise, you are, at some point perhaps going to develop a leak in that basement that you didn’t expect.
DOUG: OK. Alright. Thank you very much.
TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
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