Tag: footing

Basement Retaining Wall and Footing Curb

We’re still waiting on our plumbers to do the re-lining of the sewer and the new water supply line. They in turn are waiting on approval from the City, which is being difficult. Apparently the connection between our sewer line and the sewer main under the street is damaged, and City is determining whether we need to repair it to do the re-lining.

Interior footing curb forming

Interior footing curb forming

In the mean time Mario, our concrete guy, is going like gangbusters to move things along. We can’t pour the basement floor until the plumbers finish their work, but we can work on the back stairs. After I removed the back steps down from the first floor, he re-dug out the hole we had filled behind the house and knocked out the existing retaining walls. For a rare change, rapid progress was being made without me being directly involved.

Nighttime concrete

Nighttime concrete

Within a couple days, Mario got the forms in for the new retaining wall as well as for a curb around the inside perimeter of the basement, since the existing stone block footings were exposed from the digout. Then, unexpectedly, Tuesday afternoon the concrete truck arrived a day ahead of schedule and Mario and his assistant wound up working until 10pm to get everything poured, smoothed, and cleaned up. Anything ahead of schedule is rare indeed with our project!

Retaining wall, formed, braced, and poured

Retaining wall, formed, braced, and poured

The forms came off the retaining wall yesterday and soon the stairs can be formed. I need to get the drain for the landing outside the back door roughed in and then Mario can get that and the stairs poured.

Completed retaining wall

Completed retaining wall

The forms are still on the footing curb, but you can definitely get a feel for the difference it makes in the basement. It’s really starting to feel like we can get a floor poured and start putting up walls, if the city would just sign off and let the plumbers get to it.

Interior Weeping System

Starting the trench

Starting the trench

After we got the basement dug out, we were planning to have the weeping system put in by our plumbers, but the plumbing quotes were all so high that we had decided to do the weeping system ourselves to save money. I started with some Internet research, followed by a perusal of Chicago Building Code. I also watched an episode of Mike Holmes putting in an interior weeper. Finally, I spoke to the plumbers to see how they typically do it.

Slow progress

Slow progress

I recalled my architect telling me that the weeping trench had to be twice as far from the footing as it was deep to prevent undermining the footing (since we’d dug to the bottom of the footing). Since we’re using 4″ drain tile pipe, the minimum trench size is 6″, so it’s set 1′ in from the footings. The plumbers said they typically dig the trench a foot wide, but I was at a shortage of places to dump the dirt and I didn’t want to dig more than I had to. Plus, I didn’t see much of an advantage to making the trench wider. I initially started digging the trench an even 6″ deep, but I realized that the pipe needed to slope toward the sump crock by ⅛” per feet, also known as 1″ per 8′. I started with the depth of the sump crock openings and worked backward. The result put the top of the pipe proud of the trench in places, but still within the stone that goes under the concrete and foam insulation.

I bought a big 36″ deep by 24″ wide sump crock, rigid PVC drain tile pipe, a bunch of assorted fittings, and a pipe filter sock. The plumber suggested I account for the front bay window with some 45° fittings, but because of how sharp our bay is compared to most, I wound up using street 45s plus 22.5s for “67.5” degree turns. In my previous post on the mechanical room layout, I alluded to the challenges of figuring out where the sump basin would fit without interfering with pipes for the ejector pit, the sewer line, the pex tubing that will eventually come out of the floor by the radiant system, and without the outlet pipes being in the way of the boiler. I settled on an area along the wall that’s in front of the radiant panel, but not where the pex will come out of the floor.

Finished install

Finished install

One of the advantages of rigid PVC drain tile over the corrugated stuff is you can snake it if it ever gets clogged, so I added a clean-out at the far end of the run, as well as a connection for the drain in the back steps landing. The hardest part was digging the trench and sump pit and hauling out the dirt. Once I had started putting the pieces into place, assembly went quickly. The last step in the process is our sump pump, but I still have to plug it in, so I’ll cover that in another post.