Walkout Basement

[Dargo]

I always liked poured walls. I'm glad to see you seal them down there. Some of the people who now pour walls here claim that they don't leak when not sealed. I don't believe that. Anyway, I"ve never seen green mastic. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Where I live, there wasn't anyone who had the equipment to pour basement walls within 100 miles of me. So I had to go with concrete block.

I used 12" block and my basement has 9' ceilings. I was the grunt who got to seal the outside of the walls with that nasty black mastic. It was July when my house began, and I still remember being down in the 18" over dig covering the walls; and myself. I thought I was going to die down there in the narrow over dig. It was well over 100 degrees down there and there was no air circulation!

Great job. I think I see a 4" ledge for brick? Also, it's nice to have a walkout basement. My lot was not conducive for such, so mine is just a deep hole. Good luck!

 

[NCDeere]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Sealing the walls with a product called Rubber-Wall. )</font>

Is that a company that does that or can a home owner do it?

Thanks.

Bryan

 

[Jagmandave]

I googled and found a link to a company that sells/installs the stuff, they make it in a brushable as well as spray-on form. Seems like a homeowner could brush it as well as the hired help could, but probably need special equipment to spray it..

 

[txdon]

Cityboyfarmer, I understand all the photos except this one . Don't you have to put some rebar in the slab? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Thanks for the photos, I really like the one that shows the spraying of the sealer on the basement walls.

 

[BX23Seattle]

The rubber wall product I used requires a specialized equipement that heats up the rubber compound and then blast it onto the concrete with lots of force to get it into even the smallest nook and cranny. They went over it a few times to build it up to a decent thickness. Really neat stuff, I picket some off the ground after it dryed, flexable, just like a rubber band.

 

[Cityboyfarmer]

Don,

Rebar is not required in the slab. The concrete is fiber reinforced 3000 psi. A lot of people think you need wire mesh, rebar or some other reinforcing metal. I have dug up slabs with wire mesh and found in nearly every case the weight of the concrete has pushed the wire into the dirt below the slab, so the wire did no good anyway.

None of the concrete contractors down here put rebar or wire in slabs. Not even for driveways. For drives, they use 4000+ psi fiber reinforced concrete. The quality of concrete mixes has improved over the last 20 years.

 

[Cityboyfarmer]

Dargo,

That green sealer is some pretty neat stuff. Goes on thick, then they attach a flat drain tile to the bottom that is designed to channel water away from the foundation. The green rubber wall was covered with a super thick black plastic sheeting that no four of us here could tear by hand. If you look close in this photo I think you can see it.

Anyway, the manufacturer provides a lifetime warranty against leaks.

Yes, that's a brick ledge you see.

 

[Dargo]

That's awesome! I see you are using quality building products and the latest technology. Fantastic job and choices! Fortunately I've never had any water issues in my basement, but I'm convinced the newer products you are using are far superior to what I had available in 1990. Keep up the great work! You'll have a home you will be proud of for a lifetime.

 

[Cityboyfarmer]

Bryan,

I had a company out of Atlanta apply the waterproofing. It requires special application equipment. I don't think it is something a homeowner would want to tackle. The cost was around $1800. Worth every penny of it to me.

 

[Cityboyfarmer]

Dargo,

These are photos from 1998/99. Had to scan them from my photo album on my painfully slow flat scanner. Been living in the house for six years now.

 

[txdon]

<font color="blue"> "Rebar is not required in the slab. The concrete is fiber reinforced 3000 psi." </font>

So all the work that Eddie Walker's girlfriend did was done because the fiber reinforced concrete was not used? All slabs I have seen poured in Texas have had rebar. Before you posted I looked in a foundation book at Lowe's and they did it exactly like you did it. Thanks for the explanation.

 

[Cityboyfarmer]

Don,

Maybe it is a code requirement in Texas? Could possibly be a different requirement for comercial buildings. My experience is limited to Georgia and what I've managed to observe and learn so far.

The contractor did not use fiber reinforced concrete in the walls and footings. The protruding footing rebar and the wall rebar were bound together prior to pouring. All this steel tied together makes for an excellent earth ground for your electrical system as well as added strength.

 

[EddieWalker]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( <font color="blue"> "Rebar is not required in the slab. The concrete is fiber reinforced 3000 psi." </font>

So all the work that Eddie Walker's girlfriend did was done because the fiber reinforced concrete was not used? All slabs I have seen poured in Texas have had rebar. Before you posted I looked in a foundation book at Lowe's and they did it exactly like you did it. Thanks for the explanation. )</font>

I noticed lots of rebar was used in the load bearing parts of the pour, and only the floor was poured without rebar. Relying on the fiber is good for small cracks, but never for load bearing walls. Since the floor isn't significant to the overall integrity of the building, they can save some money by not puting in rebar.

The giant footing down the middle of the floor was more interesting to me then the lack of rebar. Was that to support some internal walls? Sure was allot of material used there.

Code is different all over. My neighbor is from Florida. He was amazed I was using half inch rebar on two foot centers. There, it's five eights on twelve inch centers.

All I needed was three eights with half inch on the footings. I went for half inch due to the build up of the pad on my project.

There's allot of dicsusion on the strengths of adding fiber to your mix. No doubt about it being stronger, but nobody says it's strong enought to replace rebar.

Wire is rated higher then rebar in flat applications, but since it's almost impossible to keep the wire in the middle of the pour, I won't mess with it.

As for your basement Don, go with the plans drawn up for "your" area and what your contractor recomends. This isn't an area the gets much markup or a money maker for your General Contactor. The subs bust their buts regardless of the requirements and will make the same either way.

Eddie

PS Don, Steph says hi.

 

[Cityboyfarmer]

Eddie,

The footing was to support a 2x8 break-out wall down the center. I used what we call Joist Truss I-beam floor joist system (JTI) down here. My supplier said that these JTI's would span the entire 38' width of the basement. I had a hard time believing that and after a discussion with my framer decided on the 2x8 break-out wall. Maybe they would have supported the span, but I just couldn't take the chance. I still have 19' spans on either side of the studs and the full 38' span between the break-outs. The giant footer added less than $200 to the cost of the slab.

As to fiber reinforced concrete in slabs, it was explained to me that the weight is transferred directly to the ground, eliminating the need for rebar in most cases. The stronger your mix, the higher the cost. Now, in northern climates where there is the possibility of frost heave, it might be a different story.

They poured a turn-down monolithic slab for my carport with no rebar except where the slab connected with the basement walls on one side and a retaining wall on the other. However, when they poured my concrete front porch, they did use #5 rebar in the slab. I do not know why. Anyway, we have been living in the home for six years and everything is still sound and solid with no settling whatsoever.

This was the first and only house I have built thus far. I learned a lot and will do many things different if the opportunity to build again presents itself, like using steel forms and steel framing for my next home. I will never hang sheetrock again! /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif I will let the pros handle it. Didn't save a dime doing it myself and hurt in places I've never hurt before afterward /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[dooleysm]

No rebar in our basement floor here in southern Indiana. We used it everwhere else though (garage, porch, driveway, etc). For our footers we used a product called Form-A-Drain. It's hollow plastic planks roughly 2x6 sized. They have slots on the outside and do just what they say. They act as a concrete form to pour your footers and then remain when you're done and act as a footer drain. They make a piece with a coupler to attach a 4 inch drain to, which we ran out to a drainage ditch about 150' from the house.

While the footer was still wet we put down ICFs (Insulation Concrete Forms) which look like big legos. They stack together very easily to make your basement wall. You add rebar down into the footer (while still wet) and also have horizontal rebar supported by plastic strips in the ICFs. You then pour your basement into the ICFs, which then remain and act as a great insulator. There's a hard plastic product that screws into the outside of the ICFs that acts as your vapor barrier. My father in law sometimes builds entire houses out of ICFs and owners claim you can heat them with a match. One guy had an LP ventless fireplace installed, which he later sold because he couldn't use it. It made his house too hot in the winter!

Reward Wall is the brand name of the ICFs we used, although there are other manufacturers.