Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days

[pacerron]

It's better to spend the money now and know you did it right than having to go back and dig out around the house later because it is getting water into the basement.

As millions of people have found out!
It is better to try to route the water now than after all the bushes and the decks are in, making it very expensive and messy to fix later. Particularly since the basement walls, in this construction, are just floating on a bed of tamped crushed bluestone stone that could allow water to work its way back under the basement floor and up through cracks that will develop or around pipe riser openings. With classic construction the footers are dug into undisturbed soil and the french drain is laid on top of the shelf of the footer that extends out beyond the wall.
I would not allow them to run the spouting downspouts into the french drains, either, as is done by some builders to save a few bucks. That just results in quick flooding of the foundation area. The downspouts should be piped away from the house a good distance to an open-to-air outlet.
Washed river gravel is really your best bet for filling above the french drain. Any kind of crushed stone has sharp parallel edges and will compact or clog with clay. Look at what it does on a lane or driveway over time.
A 90 day theme sounds wonderful for a complete stick built house, but at this time of year I would be more concerned about them using anti-freeze in concrete, freezing temperatures during curing time, sun heat to seal down composition shingles, if that is what is being used, and other factors that could flaw the quality of construction.

How thick is the cement board used on the exterior of the walls? Is it a fiber cement?

 

[Scooter78]

Why drain it if the water can't even get to it. That builder is going to hate us vey much by the time this is over.

As long as our fellow TBN member does not mind our opinion and advise I could really careless about what the builder thinks. All we are trying to do is help give him good advise from past experience does not mean he has to do it or even discuss with his builder.

 

[murphy1244]

How are you going to keep water out?

Ain't that what the wall drains are for? Me and you agree, I just didn't word it right I guess. I'm not talking inside drainage I'm talking outside

 

[murphy1244]

As long as our fellow TBN member does not mind our opinion and advise I could really careless about what the builder thinks. All we are trying to do is help give him good advise from past experience does not mean he has to do it or even discuss with his builder.

I think I'll go back to bed as my words were tongue and cheek.

 

[catdozer]

Ain't that what the wall drains are for? Me and you agree, I just didn't word it right I guess. I'm not talking inside drainage I'm talking outside

I think your saying just use any dirt as the drains are there? Clay takes forever to dry and water does not flow fast enough through it, where as sand drys quicky and water goes through it fast so the drains get rid of it quickly

 

[murphy1244]

I think your saying just use any dirt as the drains are there? Clay takes forever to dry and water does not flow fast enough through it, where as sand drys quicky and water goes through it fast so the drains get rid of it quickly

no, try again

 

[catdozer]

no, try again

I give up, whats your idea

 

[srs]

Not a bad idea to have a drain in the garage. If I did do a drain pipe in the garage, I suspect it would need to be tied to that as well. So the code seems to already be like that in Virginia, even for basement floor drains.

Pete, my 2 cents on the garage floor drain. I'm thinking more than likely that it is illegal to put a drain in. But what my builder did in my previous house I built was put a center floor drain in and the concrete was sloped about 1"-1 1/2" from the walls inward toward the drain. The PVC drain had a round cast iron/steel cover. Overall width I think was about 6 inches. After the concrete was poured he put down numerous layers of thin plywood, large sheets of cardboard, etc. over the concrete to "hide" the drain. Besides protecting the concrete and keeping it clean of all the mud from the construction site it was out of view for any future inspections. I kept the sheeting down until I was ready to move in. It really kept the concrete clean. Also, the drain was connected to solid 4 inch PVC which ran downhill to the woods. Any snow/ice dripping off the cars went into the drain and out. I never had any freeze issues. I also would occasionally wash my vehicles in the dead of winter inside the garage to get rid of some of the salt from the cars. I guess government officials think you'll dump used oil or something down the drain which is not what I would ever do. Keep up the good work and love the pictures. Stanley

 

[murphy1244]

Well you don't want clay so anything that allows it to drain. Right?

 

[Ranger Rick]

One way to relieve any water pressure against the walls of your foundation is to use a foundation drainage mat attached to the foundation wall. When I built my house we have clay soils and our neighbors had wet basements so I used it. It is a dimpled heavy plastic barrier that allows any water near the foundation to just drop to the drain at the bottom of the wall. We then just back filled with the subsoil. In 17 years I have had no water in the basement and when it rains the sump pump is doing its job. Just an alternative to the many tons of gravel that others have suggested. Rick