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Prepping a house site and building a house

Columbo

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Dec 31, 2021
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274
Location
New Hampshire
@MrEvilPirate my brother and I went halves on a small vibratory screener when a local excavation contractor retired and sold off his equipment. Looks similar to a Read RD40 but a little smaller.
 

Columbo

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Dec 31, 2021
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274
Location
New Hampshire
I got the stone in and compacted just before it rained on Friday. Today I worked with the foundation contractor and we got all the footings laid out. His crew will be here in the morning to get the footings formed up, concrete shows up on Tuesday. I’ll be working on the footing drain to daylight to stay out of their way.

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CM1995

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Alabama
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Running what I brung and taking what I win
Looking good!

So your footings will be formed and poured on top of what looks like #57 stone?

I have always liked that method as it is common practice here to dig footings and earth cast but we don't have to worry about frost either. The way you are doing it would allow a bigger capillary break between earth and the basement slab allowing any water in and under the basement a way out.
 

Columbo

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Dec 31, 2021
Messages
274
Location
New Hampshire
Correct, i shimmed a few low areas with 1.5” crushed stone, compacted, and then put a layer of 3/4” crushed stone over top. This layer was 4-6” and compacted. The area I’m building is pretty wet so I’m trying to do everything I can to keep the water where it belongs. Internal and external footing drains too.
 

CM1995

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What type footing drain - 4" perf pipe or the flat vertical drain for lack of a better description?
 

Columbo

Senior Member
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Dec 31, 2021
Messages
274
Location
New Hampshire
4” perforated pipe for the footings and then a separate drain for the gutter down spouts. I’ll tie both drains into a single 6” solid pipe leading to daylight. I was planning to use SDR35 pipe but the foundation contractor said he has recently started using SDR20 due to cost and ease of installation. I’ll have to look into that.
 

skyking1

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Nov 3, 2020
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7,465
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washington
Moving right along. I hope to join you soon in the process.
One thing I will do that I don't see on foundation jobs is a cleanout on each corner of the footing drain. Just a couple of fittings and two sticks of pipe, but being able to see what is going on is priceless.
If I had water issues it would be easy to figure out where it is.
 

Columbo

Senior Member
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Dec 31, 2021
Messages
274
Location
New Hampshire
This might be better in a new thread but I don’t know where else to put it- Does anyone have any experience or opinions on using the so-called “triple wall” or SDR20 drainage pipe versus typical SDR35 for the footing drains? I can get the triple wall stuff locally for about $10 a piece less than SDR35. Given that I need about 100 pieces that adds up. Photo below is for reference on the triple wall/SDR20 pipe as it seems to go by different names in different regions.


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materthegreater

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Jul 25, 2012
Messages
642
Location
VT
I agree with Skyking. That ADS3000 will be fine, I use it a lot. Much better than the single wall S&D pipe.
 

Columbo

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Dec 31, 2021
Messages
274
Location
New Hampshire
Good point! I’m planning to surround the pipe with crushed stone, filter fabric, and then backfilled with clean sand. That’s the typical installation around here anyway (although some people backfill entirely with crushed stone).
 

CM1995

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Looks like an ADS HDPE alternative to Contech A2000 ribbed PVC pipe. Haven't used the ADS triple wall but have put miles of ADS single wall, N12 dual wall and HP pipe in the ground. Like Sky said it's all in the bedding and backfill.

A majority of HDPE pipe's structural integrity is the backfill material. Early on when ADs HDPE pipe hit the market guys installed it like concrete using dirt backfill which resulted in failures. Use a good washed stone like you used in the basement as bedding and bring it at least 6" above the pipe and it will perform as designed.
 

materthegreater

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Messages
642
Location
VT
Good point! I’m planning to surround the pipe with crushed stone, filter fabric, and then backfilled with clean sand. That’s the typical installation around here anyway (although some people backfill entirely with crushed stone).

Your plan sounds good and you probably already know this - make sure the bottom of the pipe is as low as the bottom of the footing and pitched to daylight. Backfilling with sand above the stone layer is fine, but you want to make sure you have a full wrap of fabric around the stone/pipe to prevent any sand or silt from entering the pipe.

Most situations don't need to be backfilled entirely with stone, unless it is an unheated building. An unheated building will allow the frost to get into the ground around the foundation much more than a heated building will. If backfilled completely with stone this won't matter because the stone layer won't hold water and therefore won't expand when it freezes. Otherwise the expansion of the frozen ground will push against the concrete walls and can cause cracking or breakage of the walls.
 

Columbo

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Dec 31, 2021
Messages
274
Location
New Hampshire
Foundation is done, now I’m doing the perimeter drains and starting to backfill. I was advised to only go halfway up the walls for now until the first floor is framed to prevent displacing the walls.

The native soil here is a hard clay, I have been told that it is acceptable to fill inside the garage with this material, compacting every foot, and then using crushed gravel for the final 8”-12” under the slab. I will not be pouring the garage slab until at least next year. I have a significant amount of material to put back into the garage, at least 4’ in places. Final photo below shows this. Any thoughts on this plan?

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CM1995

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How long have the walls been poured?

I like for the walls to be at least 14 days on cure before backfilling. It's a good idea to only go 1/2 until the floor system on but I've backfilled poured walls full height at 14 days with no issues but those walls had alot of corners.

You shouldn't have any issues using onsite dirt that is clean, free of organics and not fat clay in the garage fill. Back in the mid 2000's we built 30 townhomes with single car garages with 10' lower basement walls. Filled the entire 10' with chert and topped with 6-8" of #57 crushed stone.

Keep your loose lifts around 8-12" thick and compact each layer paying attention to the fill at the walls in order to not have any voids next to the foundation wall.

Not being the safety nazi but bend those rebar dowels over on the garage door openings. You'll have to eventually to fill the garage and tie into the slab so it's good practice to do it once the forms come off.

Looking good!
 

skyking1

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washington
not being a nazi, rebar caps are cheap and I cover the bolts too. That is a heck of an accident waiting to happen.
I won't backfill my place until i can do it 100%, so it will wait on the first floor framing and subfloor. Part of that has to do with the waterproofing system, which is better to cover within 7 days so It sorta drives that bus.
 

Columbo

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Dec 31, 2021
Messages
274
Location
New Hampshire
Thanks for the replies, the walls were poured a week ago today. I was working on the garage drains and backfill since I figured it would be safest since the walls are backfilled from both sides. I also had to wait for the house foundation to be waterproofed, which they are doing today. I’ll wait another week before I backfill the house based on this advice.

Good point of the rebar, the foundation contractor told me to wait a week then bend them over until they can be positioned for the floor. I’ll do that asap!
 
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