Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days

[pacerron]

We get snow and rain here, so vehicles come in shop and garage with snow and water dripping off. We slope the floors towards the door and it runs out for the most part. Several neighbors have drains and hid the drain during inspections. They are also the same folks that think nothing of letting spills (oil when changing oil, etc) go down the drain. I rather properly dispose of my fluids and put up with not having a drain for the water to drain away. I am not a fanatic but do know where my well water comes from.

I have no issues with the water draining somewhere along with incidental other fluids....

You must make a distinction between Sanitary Sewer Systems and Storm Sewers, the codes do. No utility wants oil or anti-freeze coming into their digester. They have enough problems with the detergents and other household chemicals killing the bacterial action.
Out in the county no one wants chemicals, and oils in their septic system or getting into their water well either but since vehicles are not required to "wear diapers", yet, leaks of all kinds get on the streets from parked and cars in traffic as well as tons of salt, cinders and dirt that is spread on purpose. This stuff all washes into storm sewers or off into the ground. Large parking garages and commercial garages are required to have holding tanks for their floor drains in many cities. It is then often pumped out into tanker trucks and spread along country roads to keep the dust down or many times dumped near a river or stream.
I doubt if many people that are not allowed floor drains in their garages collect the mud and oil laden kittie litter into a specially marked bag and take it to a chemical collection center.
Folks that own land in the country usually have greater respect for the environment and protect it much better than the
folks that rent some space in the city.

[Dr Dave]

EPA require a repair shop/ car wash to be pumped and disposed of at the local sewage treatment plant. There it is tested and treated to a safe level before they take it from the driver, shop owner pays this expense. Records must be kept. They usualy add lime to our shop waste. These shops have an oil/water seperator, basicaly a septic tank to collect solids and oils. They even pull man hole covers at the street,in both direction from our shop and take yearly samples from the sewer. The tanker trucks that spread oil on gravel roads use soybean oil, for dust control.

Dave

[MarkV]

As always people give advice based on their local codes or based on their assumption and what was done 20 years ago. Check with the inspector about a drain, it is the only way to know. Great build by the way, I'll look forward to the next step.

Everything is backfilled with clay around here. It is all we have and seems to work well with the proper foundation drainage, waterproofing treatment and grading. Now in Texas the clay is different and causes huge problems. Again, it all depends on your area. A builder with experience should know what works and the inspectors know what is expectable. Our experiences offer questions to ask but not necessarily answers appropriate for your area.

MarkV

[sld]

Not sure about all the negative talk about clay around the foundation. In my area that is all we have and my basement and entire foundation is surrounded by clay. As long as you keep a positive slope around the house and have good gutters it will not be a problem.

Now, one problem with clay, is during extremely dry times is it will shrink and pull a way from the foundation. But I have had a very dry basement for 15 years. I don't think my sump pump has ran for the last 5 years since I fixed some slope issues.

I know different areas are completely different but the idea around here is to shed the water away from the foundation and keep it out of the perimeter drain. Sand and sandy loam are the worst materials for this. My sump pump would run 24/7 during any kind of rain with that as backfill.

[pclausen]

Day 31

Got the foundation poured today. Turned out great I think.



You can see a line of sort between the area hit by the sun today and the area that did not.



They will be back in the morning to "buff" it some more.



It took just under 24 yards. He had a little left on the truck and dumped it in the garage pit. That garage floor will hold a tank by the time it's done!



They brought a generator and string lights, but since the high today was almost 50 degrees, and the expected lows are maybe mid 20's, there should be no issues with freezing tonight. The concrete is 4000 psi with fiber in it as well as a bit of calcium chloride.

[catdozer]

I know different areas are completely different but the idea around here is to shed the water away from the foundation and keep it out of the perimeter drain. Sand and sandy loam are the worst materials for this. My sump pump would run 24/7 during any kind of rain with that as backfill.

You only backfill a couple feet. most of it is like you said, the gutters and slope take it away. Around here if you have clay and wet season the basements will condensate bad and water will leak. The sand is just to get the water away from the wall. Yea sump pumps run a little more but its better then having water in your basement.
I just dont like the people that are stubborn and say they dont need it. Then get called back in a few years that we did it wrong, our fault, and want us to pay for it. Then when we tell them remember that the sand we should have used to backfill you wouldnt have this problem.......

[dan ny escarpment]

Clay is unavoiadable here to some degree on the S. Lake Erie lake plain. SLD got one of the issues with clay right on, that it shrinks, and also, it expands when more moisture is present. Our first home was a 1940's bungalow with old clay tile drains around the house, backfilled with clay. Ultimately the lack of drainage through the clay lead to hydrostatic pressure that pushed the back wall of the house inward a few inches. The fix was was to remove a deck, and all the landscaping, remove all the clay, install perforated footer drains, and backfill about 2 feet out from the wall with #57 limestone, within 1 foot of the surface. The wall was pushed back and an I beam installed inside to vertically to brace the wall.

Really enjoying your thread, thanks for posting, great stuff.

Dan

[Lt CHEG]

I have a jug of used antifreeze from the tractor that I have sort of worked at finding out how to properly dispose of, for two years now.

Dilution is the solution to pollution.

[KennyG]

I have a jug of used antifreeze from the tractor that I have sort of worked at finding out how to properly dispose of, for two years now.

In my area the same gas stations that accept used oil also take used antifreeze at no charge. I take mine to a Shell station.

[mjncad]

In my area the same gas stations that accept used oil also take used antifreeze at no charge. I take mine to a Shell station.

Amazing! Trying to find a place around here to take used antifreeze is like pulling hen's teeth. The auto parts stores will gladly (up to a point) take used oil; but won't take used antifreeze, yet they gladly sell the stuff.

Regarding the OP getting the floor slab poured...excellent! Will you sawcut the control joints, or were they tooled in after you took the pictures? I sure hope you went with sawcut control joints.