I just purchased a new home with a solid poured concrete wall foundation. I am not looking to “finish” the basement, but would like to paint the walls to brighten up and make the basement look clean. Is there a material that I can use that would also fill in all the little holes in the concrete and paint the walls at the same time? Your help is appreciated.
CHILTO
Solid concrete foundation walls are about as good as it gets for a strong base for your home. The walls themselves are not really designed to be a finished surface, as the steel forms leave ridges when they are removed and small voids where air settled in the concrete results in “pock” marks. These, as well as even minor shrinkage cracks on the concrete foundation should be considered minor and mostly cosmetic.
Basement wall paints tend to be fairly thick and hence have some hole filling qualities. However, no matter what you do, the walls will not be silky smooth. If you have any large areas that need repair, I’d recommend the products from Abatron. These epoxy based patches and fillers do a good job on repairing holes and voids in concrete.
