Waterproofing a cellar

We're looking to do some water/damproofing to our cellar walls before putting up the dry lining. There's no rivers of water getting in but the walls are damp. At the moment all we can come up with is to paint some WPM membrane on the inside (too costly and hassle to do the outside) with metal struts to attach blueboard too. We're also putting in a few vents on the walls and the floor (where it can at least circulate).

I've been looking for someone who does tanking but it's not too easy to find anyone, especially in Adelaide. Does anyone have any more ideas of what we could do or know of anyone who does tanking, and roughly how much would that cost for a 3x3x3m room.

Cheers.

The only way to do it for long term success is to do it on the outside. Anything else is a compromise and won't go the distance.

Stewie

Take Stewie's advice to heart. You have to stop the water before it gets to the wall not when it's already in there. How is the dampness getting into the wall in the first place? Is there soil piled up against the wall or is it getting in through the foundations? How is the floor constructed? Any drainage around the perimeter?

Thanks for the replies.

The cellar is pretty much completely underground with the outside wall sitting under the driveway, if you see what I mean. The walls inside the house are fairly dry and under the floor (wooden, I ripped up a couple of boards for a look) is bone dry so it looks like all the damp is coming from the outside walls.
It would be a big job to dig up the outside and tank it from there but it might be worthwhile getting a quote for the job. Had an estimate of $4500 to do it internally. Not convinced it's worth the outlay but we know with anything else we'd be redecorating it in a few years.

I,m with Stewie here,anything applied to the inside is a waste of time.
Once renovated an old pub which had a cellar-the type where they would
roll the kegs off the truck through a trapdoor in the footpath and down into the cellar.
It was putrid down there and to the owners credit he wanted to fix it up.
He was sold on this type of rubberised spray,-all us tradies working on the job,
all reconed it wouldn,t work,but who would know now with the advancement in
technologies.So in came this mob,and started prepping the walls,applying this so called
chemical sealer binder over the concrete walls ceiling and floor.Oh he was good the salesman,
had an answer for everything,lasted about a fortnight then the signs of failure started-a few bubles,
the size of dinnerplates,cut out and repaired,to cut a long story short the whole lot had to come off,
ended up giving up, and put a raised grid floor down there with a pit cut in the floor with a submersible pump.

^^
l l
And therein folks ****** the rub of the tale for any kind of waterproofing to basements/cellars etc.

Stewie