Refinishing Old Basement Walls

[Ben Z]

Greetings...new here, hoping to learn some things. Site looks like a good resource.

I'm a first time home owner...have owned for 2 years now. My wife and I both have allergies and asthma and I believe mold in our basement has been giving us fits. We are also outgrowing this house and would like to put the house on the market next spring, so I would like to fix up the basement so that it won't be an issue when we go to sell the home.

House was built in 1911. We have a brick foundation. Some of the mortar between the bricks is crumbly...but not as bad as some other basements I've seen. We've never had standing water, but portions of some of the walls do stay pretty damp year round.

What I would like to do, but don't know if it is the right thing to do, is apply new mortar over the bricks and existing mortar. I have read that I should use a mix of mortar, sand, and cement in order to get it to stick. Is this correct? If so, what ratio of each should I use? After I have a new surface I'd like to Drylock the walls to prevent any future moisture issues.

Is this all I need to do? Is there any prep work that needs to be done?

Here are some pics of the walls...pardon the mess...we just use the basement for storage.

This one shows a wall that is mostly dry:



Looks like someone tried a yellow Drylock-like substance at one time on the front wall:



This corner stays pretty damp:



Finally, a closeup of a damp area:



Any help greatly appreciated.

[HayZee518]

Repoint the mortar areas with cement/sand mix - quik crete is a good product. Once you get that done - Thorseal can be applied over the brick. It's portland cement based so should go on almost like white wash of old.