Working with B-dry basement waterproofing

[realitarian]

Folks,

I bought a house a couple of years ago with the B-Dry system already installed. While we have not had any problems so far, we would like to install studs and drywalls on the B-dry walls. For one thing, the plastic white B-dry walls don't look that nice since we want to convert the basement to an entertainment room with a bar and TV. Secondly we want to mount a flat screen TV on the wall.

I couldn't find any website that tells you if it is OK or not to cover up the B-dry walls with studs and drywall or drill holes into it in order to mount wood frames. I heard one person say that he thinks you need access to the B-dry wall in case it fails and you need to replace one of the plastic panels...he wasn't sure though.

My questions are:
(1) Can you install frame/studs/drywall on the B-dry walls? Basically, do the plastic walls need to be open to air so that they can 'breathe'? Is it OK to permanently cover them up with regular drywalls?
(2) Is it OK to drill holes into the plastic panels to secure any objects to the concrete block wall behind them?
(3) If the answers to the above two questions are 'no', is it OK to paint the plastic walls? The panels are connected to each other by a protruding plastic strip and it doesn't look nice. What can I do to make the plastic B-dry panels and the intermediate strips not show up as such and make them look nicer?

Thanks so much for your ideas.

[B.E]

I would call the company direct so you do not void any warranty .

[B-Lot]

I have a B-dry system that was installed by a previous owner. The plastic B-Dry Rigid Sealer panels are only installed in the corners and around the perimeter. I called B-Dry and was told that the Rigid Sealer Panels could be covered up or painted, but I could not put any holes into the panels or the membrane underneath.

[Gaulpig09]

I live in Calgary Alberta pretty dry. I have 8 year old house with poured concrete walls and floor. I have steel 2x4 studs offset from the wall an inch or so filled with pink insulation doesnt fill the entire cavity very well, covered with clear poly vapour barrier. Some walls are also covered with drywall. We are just exiting winter here. In middle of winter during a temporary thaw, I noticed a couple of small puddles / really damp spots on my basement floor starting at wall going 2-4" out and 12" long. Im not in my basement very often so the fact I noticed this during a thaw may be more coincidince than anything else??? We are about to finish our basement so this was a concern. I picked a random spot on each of the 4 basement walls and cut into it. The walls were damp and the back of the insulation was damp too. The walls werent wet though. I ran my hands over the wall and it was enough to change the colour of my dry skin, but not enought that Id consider it really wet. There didnt appear to be any white powder I sign of water coming in I think on the walls. The dampness started about ground level and got progressively more damp as you moved toward the floor. As all 4 walls had the same problem I assessed the odds of cracks in the foundation as low.

The leading theory on this is that there is air movement between the insulation and the wall causing humidity to condense on the wall. Does this make sense? What are some other thoughts? If it is humidity, where would it be coming from? The thing that troubles me about this theory is that the combination of warm inside air / warmer sub-grade foundation meeting colder above grade foundation would have make me think the rising warm air would have condensed on the above grade portion, not the below grade portion???

I also have a 1/8" or so gap between all walls and the floor. Is this normal? Could this be the source of the moisture/hummidity?

Finally, what are the suggested approaches to resolve? Should I even be concerned?

Thanks for all your thoughts

[Don_P]

Since we are going into winter rather than coming out of it your post raised my curiosity. Your IP adress has you in Latvia, you claim to be in Canada and your location says US. My BS alarm is going off.