Draining Work

We are planning on being in this home for a very long time…therefore we are doing everything we can to protect it.  Rusty read an article in Fine Homebuilding in 2001 about waterproofing a basement – the man has a mind like a steel trap and tucked this info away so that he could engage his wife in manual labor 10 years later.  The good thing is that I can treat my own shoulder pain after shoveling clay out of the trench around the basement on Saturday;-)

Keeping a Basement Dry - Fine Homebuilding - June/July 2001

There is a drainage tile that goes around the entire perimeter of the basement.  The slit pipe has a sleeve on it to keep sediment out and this is then buried in washed gravel.  We decided to take an extra step simply due to the type of soil on our lot – red clay.  I’m from Illinois where the soil is dark and rich so the Mars dirt is new to me.  Boy, does this stuff retain water.

To prevent the gravel and possibly the pipe from getting gummed up, we laid a layer of landscaping fabric around the entire perimeter of the house.  Because some of the walls have started to fall in due to the rain, we had to dig out several areas – woohoo.  We couldn’t get the entire house done due to some pending issues with the foundation walls but we got most of it done before Monday’s gully washer.  It took about 3 1/2 hours in gorgeous weather – couldn’t have come up with a better way to spend some time with my two favorite guys.  There will be a layer of course sand that goes on top of the fabric before backfill begins but we’re waiting until wall installation is complete and nobody will be walking in the trench anymore.

HINDSIGHT IS 20/20:  Will was a huge help on Saturday and earned a whole dollar;-)  He was my paperweight on the end of the landscaping fabric – his job was to stand on the end of the roll while I pulled it out and cut it to size.  Rusty would then shovel gravel into the trench to hold the fabric in place.  No child was hurt in the waterproofing of this basement.

Close Your Eyes...

Okay, Maybe He Deserved $2

Foundation Garments

Front Left 3/31

This process has been very interesting to watch.  We chose the precast foundation walls for a few reasons – mainly being speed of construction and quality control.  I don’t think there is any way to guarantee you will have a completely dry basement but there are a lot of measures you can take to give you the best chance at it.  I’ve lived in homes that had both traditional block and poured in place concrete walls.  Rusty grew up in a basement home that had poured in place concrete walls.  We both had opinions going into the selection process based off of those experiences.  We also talked to several contractors and individuals who had the different types of basement walls.

Front Right 3/31

The house I grew up in that had a block basement and crawl space leaked like a sieve – I remember dehumidifiers running in the basement and several inches of water in the basement at one point.  The next home that had poured in place concrete walls with a daylight basement was completely dry and never really felt like a “basement.”  Rusty’s experience was similar – he grew up in a poured in place concrete basement home.  This home was built in the late 1970s and his parents did not have any water issues until those massive rains we had last spring.  What we’ve learned is that regardless of the system, it really comes down to installation.  You can have the most high tech system but if it’s installed incorrectly, it won’t work.  Likewise, you can have a traditional system that will perform beautifully if you pay attention to detail and protect it appropriately.

HINDSIGHT IS 20/20:  I know absolutely nothing about construction…but I’m learning.  Visit your site frequently and study the process.  I love that I know where my drainage tile is, how it works, and what is going on under my home;-)

Front Left 4/1

Front Right 4/1

Starting the Garage