Water Water Everywhere

Last week we were on vacation and traveled to Milwaukee for a few days.  When we returned the crew had done some more foundation cleanup, brought in some rock for the east end of the crawl space floor and installed a sump pump in the lowest part of the crawl space.  This was something I added to the spec.  Just in case any
water gets into the foundation.  It should flow to the lowest spot where a pump with a float switch is installed inside a plastic tub with holes in it.  If water should start to fill the plastic tub the pump will come on and pump out the water before it has a chance to puddle in the crawl space.  Moisture is what gives rise to mold and mildew which we want to avoid.  The sump pump is kind of an insurance policy.

The contractor wants us to move the driveway over at least 20 feet to the south from where it currently meets the main driveway.  If you go back to my very first post there is copy of the site plan which shows its location.  Unfortunately the current location goes through a kind of  low area and we are afraid that even with a 6" road base and two inches of asphalt, part of the new driveway could be under water in a heavy rain. Moving it will not be a big deal.  It will make the front yard a little bigger but we will keep the curve and in the end I think will be a better design. 

We will move the driveway over to this area.  This is higher ground than the specified location.

I also agreed to buy a roll of Geotexile fabric called Mirafi 500X.  This fabric comes in 12.5' x 432' rolls.  It's not overly expensive at just under $400.00 for a roll.  This stuff is very tough and allows water to drain through but prevents the rocks from sinking into the dirt.  We'll put down some recycled concrete as an extra heavy base, the contractor will roll out this fabric and then put the 6" road base down and compact it.  This will provide a good access road for the construction trucks to get close to the house, and then when all the work is done, they will come in and level out the base and install the asphalt. 

Here is how we are handling the water surrounding the foundation.  As you can see it is a bit of a pond onto itself.  The contractor dug a short trench at a low spot so I put the contractors pump in the trench and pumped the water over to the pond.  This is where it would normally end up anyway.  After about 4 hours the water was down below the edges of the trench and was just trickling in. 

Perimeter of the foundation before pumping

And the discharge moving the water away from the perimeter

After a few hours the field was almost dry.  You can see the trench from which I pumped the water.

Then I moved the pump to the inside of the foundation and used the pump in the sump hole to pump out all the water.

So we will see how it goes.  The lumber for the floor is supposed to be delivered on Wed.  We are hoping that the truck can get close enough to off load the wood so the workers don't have to carry it so far.