What should I use for fill?

[ironhat]

A small portion of my crawl space still had dirt along 3 feet of the wall on the east and west walls. The crawl space is enclosed by block on all walls but three of them are resting on a solid limestone outcropping. They bridged the original foundation to the rock with a lintel so that's where the dirt is still coming in and allowing a good deal of moisture in there. The moisture is controlled by a dehumidifier but there is a radon issue so we had the areas blocked and the plan is in process. While they dug to put in the blocks the dirt kept falling in and caused an undercutting along the exterior of the house at both ends. Well, One of them finally caved in and I'm wondening what I should use for fill, keeping in mind that there is so much moisture there that the new block wall is wet clear thru the parging only when we have hard rain. And no, there are no gutters nearby. I'm think more of a wet weather spring.

So, what do I fill these two cavities with to keep the moisture at bay?

[ironhat]

OK, update. I called the neighbor who is an excavating contractor asking for his opinion. With his experience he noted that the surface water was running toward that area. Who knew that there was that much surface water when it rained. Secondly, I had contributed to the problem by laying down a mat of roofing shingles so that the weeds wouldn't grow up through the stone that I had laid in that area as pre-entrance to the deck via a small deck for the grill. He said that the soil could not breath and excess water was trapped there and it was quickly saturated with the next rainfall. So, I was my own worst enemy. That's the report from the trenches.

[MilDoc]

Yep. Listen to the experts. Sometimes (me too) what we think will work makes the problem worse.

[Uncle Cracker]

It's amazing how many times a problem inside the house can be traced to a lot grading issue...

[jhart]

It's amazing how many times a problem inside the house can be traced to a lot grading issue...

The vast majority of foundation water problems are from bad grading.

[Uncle Cracker]

The vast majority of foundation water problems are from bad grading.

Yup, and so many builders treat it like it's just an afterthought... Doh!

[ironhat]

The vast majority of foundation water problems are from bad grading.

Yup, and so many builders treat it like it's just an afterthought... Doh!

You both have that right!! This lot was graded about dead flat for twenty feet from the house on three sides - the fourth side drops down such that the basement is a walk-in. If only he had graded this out to a gentle swale it would have been so much better. As it is, if the one downspout extension is blown off in a storm or is forgotten to be reinstalled after mowing the lawn there is a four foot round, three inch deep puddle inside the crawlspace. The best option is to lay an underground line which would exit at a lower grade level. I would have some issues to solve with a huge sycamore root system but I guess that it could be done.

[Seedy]

Hey Chizz,

If the sycamore is in the way of your drain line, you could put in a "dry well".
You could run your perforated pipe from the 2 flat corners around the house to the middle flat area to a dry well, i.e. a deeper hole (3-4') where the 2 pipes meet. Install a vertical culvert or tube with a foot of gravel in the bottom. Then put in a sump pump and pipe it around the tree. I have done this for a couple of people and it really made a big difference.

-Craig

[iceman61]

Hey Chizz,

If the sycamore is in the way of your drain line, you could put in a "dry well".
You could run your perforated pipe from the 2 flat corners around the house to the middle flat area to a dry well, i.e. a deeper hole (3-4') where the 2 pipes meet. Install a vertical culvert or tube with a foot of gravel in the bottom. Then put in a sump pump and pipe it around the tree. I have done this for a couple of people and it really made a big difference.

-Craig

There was also an episode on this on TOH. Do a search of "french drain".

[Tom Slick]

Unless you planted the sycamore, the fact that it grows well in your yard indicates ALOT of water. around here they only grow around creeks.

[ironhat]

Hey Chizz,

If the sycamore is in the way of your drain line, you could put in a "dry well".
You could run your perforated pipe from the 2 flat corners around the house to the middle flat area to a dry well, i.e. a deeper hole (3-4') where the 2 pipes meet. Install a vertical culvert or tube with a foot of gravel in the bottom. Then put in a sump pump and pipe it around the tree. I have done this for a couple of people and it really made a big difference.

-Craig

Hmmm, I haven't heard of this technique, Seedy. How far out from the house do you dig the sump pit?

[ironhat]

Well, the excavator came last week, just before the 2, going on 3 days of heavy rains, and filled the hole where we had teh cave in. But that's all he did. Heck, after scraping away the decorative stone he didn't even take note that there's a definite depession at that area? What the heck? The blocks in the crawl space are wet again - no kidding - and he's being a bit miffed that I want him to come back. We did an exchange of favors and I guess that he feels that his end was worth more. When barters go good they are great. I feel that they work best when you feel like you are left owing him more and visa-versa. There's more of a grading issue than I thought when this was just grass leading to a gravel walk-up area. I should probably scalp off the sod, taper the soil away from the house and put the sod back on. What a pain - in my feeble back that is!

[Uncle Cracker]

I tried the barter thing a couple of times... didn't work out too well.

Now, I just suck it up and hire it out for real money. At least, as long as I'm holding the checkbook, I'm holding all the cards...

[Seedy]

Hi Chiz,
Sorry. Just saw your post. The last one I put in was about 10' from the corner of the house. I don't think I would try to get much closer. The last one I did had a problem with the water table getting too high in a wet year.The lots were terraced and he was getting all of the water from his neighbors yard as well. We backhoed a trench to below his footing, put in a perforated pipe to the dry well,and then backfilled with 2" clean rock. He never had a problem after that.

-Craig

[ironhat]

No problem Craig. Thanks for the update.