helpingdad
January 1st, 2009, 10:24 AM
I am in the process of updating my father in-law's 80 year-old home. He's a great guy, WWII decorated vet, and the home is his only asset. My budget is limited but my wife and I are determined to make the house saleable and provide him with much-needed funds. Until my rehab began 2 years ago, the home had almost no updates. We've completed 100% replacement of all upstairs plumbing, electrical, added a bathroom, furnace, and many other updates and improvements.
Now we are addressing the biggest problem - the basement. The basement ceiling was maybe 6'2" at the high point, the floor was heaving from hydrostatic pressure, was cracked in several places, no floor drains existed, and water leaked profusely from every wall. With allot of help from friends and relatives, we broke up and removed the entire basement floor and I will replace the concrete, add drain tile, sump well, and floor drains. I've already poured new footers for the beam posts and replaced the original rotted wood posts. The substrate is mostly sand with clay at 12 - 24 inches below grade.
I need help with plans for the poured concrete floor and drain tile layout. The tile will be place at the base of all 4 interior walls and fed into a sump well at the back of the house. The basement measures approximately 20' x 30'. I have some questions and issues:
1. Without my supervision, overly zealous relatives, preparing for drain tile installation, removed too much soil at the base of the wall footer on 2 walls. They dug down at least 18" below the bottom of the footer. The walls seem stable but some underpinning soil has eroded with water infiltration. How do I repair/stabilize those walls? I'm assuming that I want to stay outside a 45 degree angle from the bottom of the footer.
2. Where is the ideal placement of the tile? How far away from the footing? How deep?
3. What type of tile should I use - slotted corrugated, perforated solid coex,??
4. What slope should I use for the tile - is 1/8" per ft OK??
5. Should I add a tile branch across the middle of the floor from corner to corner? When I dug the footers for the new beam posts in the middle of the floor, I was getting water at 12” below grade.
6. The floor will be poured by a cement contractor (neighbor) who is helping us our. Can we pour the new floor so that top surface is even with the top of the footer? This would give us approximately 6'5" height between the floor and the ceiling joist at the walls. We will slope the floor toward the center of the basement where the new floor drains will be placed.
7. What size pipe should I use for the floor drains? I will pipe 2 drains using PVC and empty to the sump well.
I really appreciate any help you can provide. I am usually the first to hire professional contractors when I'm not qualified to handle a DYI project but I'm buried on this one. I don't have the money to bring in anybody right now and we're trying to help out my father in-law as much as possible. Thanks again!!
Now we are addressing the biggest problem - the basement. The basement ceiling was maybe 6'2" at the high point, the floor was heaving from hydrostatic pressure, was cracked in several places, no floor drains existed, and water leaked profusely from every wall. With allot of help from friends and relatives, we broke up and removed the entire basement floor and I will replace the concrete, add drain tile, sump well, and floor drains. I've already poured new footers for the beam posts and replaced the original rotted wood posts. The substrate is mostly sand with clay at 12 - 24 inches below grade.
I need help with plans for the poured concrete floor and drain tile layout. The tile will be place at the base of all 4 interior walls and fed into a sump well at the back of the house. The basement measures approximately 20' x 30'. I have some questions and issues:
1. Without my supervision, overly zealous relatives, preparing for drain tile installation, removed too much soil at the base of the wall footer on 2 walls. They dug down at least 18" below the bottom of the footer. The walls seem stable but some underpinning soil has eroded with water infiltration. How do I repair/stabilize those walls? I'm assuming that I want to stay outside a 45 degree angle from the bottom of the footer.
2. Where is the ideal placement of the tile? How far away from the footing? How deep?
3. What type of tile should I use - slotted corrugated, perforated solid coex,??
4. What slope should I use for the tile - is 1/8" per ft OK??
5. Should I add a tile branch across the middle of the floor from corner to corner? When I dug the footers for the new beam posts in the middle of the floor, I was getting water at 12” below grade.
6. The floor will be poured by a cement contractor (neighbor) who is helping us our. Can we pour the new floor so that top surface is even with the top of the footer? This would give us approximately 6'5" height between the floor and the ceiling joist at the walls. We will slope the floor toward the center of the basement where the new floor drains will be placed.
7. What size pipe should I use for the floor drains? I will pipe 2 drains using PVC and empty to the sump well.
I really appreciate any help you can provide. I am usually the first to hire professional contractors when I'm not qualified to handle a DYI project but I'm buried on this one. I don't have the money to bring in anybody right now and we're trying to help out my father in-law as much as possible. Thanks again!!