New Home Begins

[dave1949]

Oh yes, my fiance is already drooling over the prospects of a blank canvas for gardens, especially a pond

Well, there you go. It would be useful to draw out a side profile type of thing that lets you map out the amount of fall/slope you have to work with from the lowest foundation french drain level to the stream bed. Figure on about 3/8" fall per foot of run in your pipes. I think that is a reasonable fall rate, others can chime in.

In any case, that will show how deep your pipes would be at a given distance from the house, which should help find the pond location if you want to try for a daylight gravity drain into the pond. A gravity drain to daylight is worth quite a bit in the scheme of things.

 

[srs]

tkappeler, Just wondering if you've talked to/heard from your next door neighbor? Hopefully you'll get the tree and fence line situation resolved amicably. Good luck! Stanley

 

[tkappeler]

tkappeler, Just wondering if you've talked to/heard from your next door neighbor? Hopefully you'll get the tree and fence line situation resolved amicably. Good luck! Stanley

I have not seen him lately but it is hunting season, so he is gone a lot as well as not one who ever volunteers to come over to the fence to chat when he is out. This is just who he is. I will talk to him and try to make sure all is ok and handled peacefully.

Thanks for asking.

 

[sdkubota]

A grade of 0.4% is minimum for pipe flow and 1% grade for open channel flow in a ditch is minimum. When grass, etc. is included in an open ditch, a 3% would be better if you have it.

 

[mjncad]

I have not seen him lately but it is hunting season, so he is gone a lot as well as not one who ever volunteers to come over to the fence to chat when he is out.

That could work to your advantage in that he leaves you alone and isn't a pest once you move in.

 

[Obed]

Sorry for the delay as I had a work (real work, not this play, fun stuff ) deadline that had me tied up for the weekend.

From the garage, there is a small stairway, approx 3', that leads to the laundry room/pantry. From there to the center great room and the kitchen is directly behind the laundry/pantry. Yes, you do have to go through the great room to get to the kitchen.

Tom,
If the basement is only 2 feet in the ground, how do you get from the garage to the laundry room with only 3 feet of steps? I must be missing something.
Obed

 

[Obed]

A grade of 0.4% is minimum for pipe flow and 1% grade for open channel flow in a ditch is minimum. When grass, etc. is included in an open ditch, a 3% would be better if you have it.

1% equates to 1/8" drop per foot. I went with 1/4" (2%) drop per foot (2 1/2" drop in 10 feet) for my foundation and gutter drains.

Obed

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Tom,
If the basement is only 2 feet in the ground, how do you get from the garage to the laundry room with only 3 feet of steps? I must be missing something.
Obed

He is building the ground up around the house.

 

[mjncad]

He is building the ground up around the house.

I hope the OP compacts the crap out of the fill he uses for the garage floor, and does so in 6" - 12" lifts, or as directed by the civil/structural engineer. If he doesn't there is a good chance his garage slab will fail pretty quickly.

 

[tkappeler]

I hope the OP compacts the crap out of the fill he uses for the garage floor, and does so in 6" - 12" lifts, or as directed by the civil/structural engineer. If he doesn't there is a good chance his garage slab will fail pretty quickly.

Yes, the excavator brought in nice, clean, compactable fill, brought in a vibratory roller similar to this:



and rolled it a lot in 8" lifts. He only brought in enough for now to get about 1/2 way there. The goal was to get the footings in. He then dug out the trench for the gravel for the superior walls (poured concrete for the main house portion, stone for the garage). The bottom of stone elevation for the foundation is only 9" above current grade the garage floor is then about 3 foot above that.

The garage floor is a total of about 3 1/2' above the street elevation. This buildup will occur over a 137' length which is pretty gradual. The other benefit of this buildup is that the mound for the septic will be more "disguised" and not a big hump.