Once allowed to dry, the areas treated will have strong and permanent waterproofing properties. Obviously this is a time consuming process and as you work it into pores of cinder block and cracks, you need to smooth the excess off to make it look nice, after assuring it has been forced into pores and cracks. I would suggest only mixing (using cold water) an amount you will use in 2 minutes. If you use warm or hot water, it will cure much faster. It cures similar to how an epoxy will cure (although it is not an epoxy, it is limestone)in that it hardens at the same rate all the way through.It gets very hot as it is curing and can burn your skin if not careful. When you mix it, mix only the amount you will use in 3 minutes. You can buy hydraulic cement at any home supply or hardware store. You can mix hydraulic cement into a ball, submerse it in water and plug a hole and within about 3 minutes will swell,cure, and plug the hole even if water had been agressivly flowing through it.
If you were to smear it onto a wall without cracks or fizures, it will dry hard and in a few years, it will start to powder off the surface except those areas where pressure has been experienced through swelling into a crack or hole. If you put it into a hole or crack, as it cures, it also expands and becomes very strong. It gains it's strength by being confined. Hydraulic cement is a powdered limestone that has been heated to higher temperatures than general purpose cement and it is very dry. Any good waterproofing will contain hydraulic cement and most likely not painted on per se. Many of the waterproofing products use various methods for applying their waterproofing solutions which are in essence paint. It can take up to 3 years to totally remove that excessive moisture depending on the processes used to remove the moisture from the structure. New construction will have many gallons of water in the concrete and block walls required for the mixing and processing of them. Unless there are cracks or extremely poor outside grading or downspout placement, vapor migration from outside is practically zero. Many houses from the 60's on, have their below surface areas parged with tar or other waterproofing and some even wrapped in plastic. I just fixed one of our problem areas that way last summer.
Sometimes, a wheelbarrow, a shovel, and some elbow grease to do a little landscaping to raise the grade near the house (keeping water draining away) is all that is needed. The next best solution is to patch up the cracks as good as possible and install some sort of interior drainage system if needed - but that is a poor second choice. The BEST solution to moisture or water coming through the wall is to divert the water away from the foundation by drainage, sump pumps, gutters, and landscaping. And the little that does come through does not amount to much at all, unless there are leaks or cracks or excessive hydrostatic pressure which will eventually force water through. The dampness on the walls that shows up in mid summer is condensation from inside air, not water seeping through. The answer to this previous questions is that in most cases, most of the water vapor comes from outside air, not through the wall.
If all the water is coming through my walls, why don't I need to run my dehumidifier in the spring when there is a lot of water in the soil? I only need to run it when the air humidity levels get high in summer months. I don't buy that, unless he is calling these gallons of "vapor" as opposed to gallons of "liquid water". Chris implies that "15-18 gallons of water vapor per day." seep through my walls and only his system can stop it.