Basement Phase 4: Weeping Tile and Gravel

We decided to waterproof the inside of the basement. The exterior of the house was already waterproofed on the back and side, but the front of the house was somewhat damp, so we decided it was better to be safe than sorry and just do the whole thing. With the basement floor removed and drains exposed, this only took an additional 8-10 hours and cost an additional $250. This involved digging a 12"x12" trench around the perimeter of the basement about 12" from the foundation, installing 4" weeping tile, backfilling with 3/4" gravel, and then covering the trench and foundation wall up to grade with waterproofing membrane. Sorry for the lack of photos.

After the waterproofing membrane was installed, we laid a 4" layer of 3/4" gravel throughout the basement as a base for the concrete. Most concrete contractors quoted a price to lay both the gravel and concrete, but we went with a concrete finisher that we paid to do just the concrete portion. We bought the materials ourselves (8 yards of gravel and 5 yards of concrete), laid the gravel ourselves, and paid him directly for the concrete labour. This saved us about $1700 off of the lowest quote we got for a contractor who would do it all -- a pretty good decision considering it took less than six hours to move the gravel into the basement and distribute it across the floor.

This photo shows the first four yards of gravel after pouring it in the window.

Buckets of gravel are actually kind of light after carrying buckets of dirt.

The following photos show the basement pretty much ready for new concrete. Meredith and Mackenzie went out of town for the long weekend, leaving me with three days to lay the new concrete floor (well ... watch contractors do that part), install five new windows, frame the exterior walls, and insulate the walls and headers.