Thread: Man cave digout

Yay! Footings are dug. I’m very excited. It’s not completely the end of all digging, as there’s a couple of minor drains to dig into the side, but it’s the end of the main digging. I have filled my last skip, and I’m not getting any more. The final tally was 16 skips, 64 cubic metres, 90 tons of rock. I’ll take a break over Christmas, and early in the New Year, I’ll start work on the slab.
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I took a little break over Christmas, so not much has happened, but work is slowly progressing. The problem is that it's rainy season, and I have a big hole in the ground. The problem with big holes in the ground is that they fill with water. Grrrrr....

It won't be so much of an issue once everything is built and tanked, because the water won't come in, but for now, it's coming in from three sides, mostly from a disconnected drain that currently pours into the hole, and I was planning to pour the slab before reconnecting it.

We came back from holidays to find a little pond in the cave. It finally dried out and I started on the reo for the slab today, but another storm caught us this afternoon, and I spent an hour or so baling water. Gotta get that fixed! I'll have to go out and buy a pump tomorrow to drain out the rest of the water and hopefully I can keep moving forward again. Once the slab is poured, I should be able to get a new pump system going to keep the water out while the rest of the build proceeds. Once the walls are built, the whole room will be tanked, so it shouldn't be a problem, but I have to get there before it will work. Also got a few other drainage changes planned for the long term, but the man-cave is the priority at the moment.

That's about it for the update at the moment. I haven't taken a photo today because I was too busy bailing.

Assume it will flood again. Put a gutter in the new floor around the the 4 walls draining to a sump where the new pump lives with an auto switch.
Don't want all your wood and tools to get wet.

This isn't good to hear, you want to stop as much moisture in the basement as possible.

Damp rises and as concrete is a porous material, it won't take long for the steel reo to start expanding and causing concrete cancer.

I'm working on a sump pump today. There will be drainage around the walls going to the sump, and a sump pump keeping it dry, and this will all be outside the walls. The whole cave will be also be fully lined with continuous plastic around the outside (200u vapor barrier), and the walls will have waterproofing treatment in addition to the plastic lining. Hopefully this will successfully keep out the damp. Also, once I can backfill around the outside walls, there will be a few other works going on to direct the surface water away from the cave before it gets into the ground. I'm fairly confident it will be OK in the end. I really don't like the sound of concrete cancer!

I assum you are putting some kind of waterproof sheeting across the soil/rock before pouring the slab. You're a hard working dude. Not something I would have tackled.

Pete

Originally Posted by surfdabbler

I'm working on a sump pump today. There will be drainage around the walls going to the sump, and a sump pump keeping it dry, and this will all be outside the walls. The whole cave will be also be fully lined with continuous plastic around the outside (200u vapor barrier), and the walls will have waterproofing treatment in addition to the plastic lining. Hopefully this will successfully keep out the damp.

Hi

keep in mind that what you are building is an underground concrete tank. All such tanks will float.
If it were me, I think I'd locate the sump pump inside the tank so that it was accessible for maintenance.
I'd also place a sheet drainage product outside the tank's walls to direct ground water to the sump.

As a general rule, it's usually better to accept that the walls will leak and to direct the leakage to the sump, than to rely on the effectiveness of a waterproofing treatment.

Do you have a place suitable for an outfall of a French drain?

Excellent info here, suggest you do similar


https://www.google.com.au/imgres?img...act=mrc&uact=8

Roofing Siding Gutter | Denver CO | Triggers of French Drain System

All I can say sir, is that you are surely on hard worker with plenty of patience and drive...WELL DONE!!

I had a old boss a number of years ago who did similar at Manly Vale in Sydney but his project took a couple of years as he was removing rock!

Keep up the great work and top WORK IN PROGRESS SHED!!

Originally Posted by rwbuild

Roofing Siding Gutter | Denver CO | Triggers of French Drain System

Errm, can someone pu-lease tell me what this is supposed to mean?
"You require to safeguard your family members the pretty to start with time by receiving in touch with an occasion,"

Eh?

I gotta say I tried real had to rearrange it numerous ways, but got nowhere fast

If you used an online translator and accidentally picked the right language it might make sense.

The diagram was the intent, not the butchered translation, a picture tells a thousand words in any language, if money is mentioned EVERYONE speaks that language

Yes, that translation was a good laugh. I think it went through several automatic translations before arriving at english.

Work is progressing again after my break for the silly season. Drainage issues are sorted (fingers crossed) and all the reo is in place, ready for concreting. The slab inspection is booked for Wednesday, and after that, the concrete can be poured. I'm probably going to get someone in to pour the slab for me - as my wife put it, you only get one go at doing the slab right. Still waiting on some quotes from concreters.

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