So should I compact the clay or just let it settle?
I am planning on putting a " sediment fabric tube" over/around the perf

 

So should I compact the clay or just let it settle?
I am planning on putting a " sediment fabric tube" over/around the pterf

 

You forget... I've had Diane's cooking before. I don't want no dang PIZZA!

I dunno about that clay idea. It makes sense in theory, but I've never seen it or done it that way before.

 

Well, I had that problem, and when I decided to fix it 20 years ago, I dug around the house down to the bottom of the footings. I put in drain tile bedded in drain rock all the way around the house, tied into a sump in the basement. Then I sealed the blocks with asphalt, and stuck a sheet of black plastic against the wet asphalt, all the way to the surface. I put 12" culverts on end under the 3 window wells that were below grade, so any water that got into them easily got down to the drain. Sump pump and 12 V backup sump pump put the water out above grade away from the house a little ways.

The back fill above the drain tiles is the native clay, sloping toward the house. You want most of the water from the roof to just run away across the ground. the tile is to wick off what gets into the clay in a saturation situation.

When I added on, it was on the end of the house with the sump, so I put the basement floor and footings in a few inches lower, tiled the whole works inside and out as above, and tied the original drain tile into it, bypassing the sump. I put a new sump in the far end of that construction, and ran a 150' 4" schedule 40 line out through the hill to the meadow about 2' above high water in the swamp. I then discarded the sump pump.

It's been dry as a popcorn phart since then in the whole structure. My soil is clay with gravel veins, so in a wet spring the sump will be draining 5 to 10 GPM of water that wanted to be in the basement.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

 

I have seen this quite a bit, just as an alternative, when we built my house, we had what was called the 100 year wall put on, it is a green elastomer slime stuff that they then covered with fan fold Styrofoam.
I can tell you this, that stuff is tenacious, they got a little into my foundation pass thrus ( 2" PVC sleeves ) that I had for my conduit runs to my buildings, and I had a devil of a time getting it off to put my conduit runs in. I have seen it at home improvement stores, at least around here. Wasn't as cheap as Asphalt, but there is no way it will dry out and crack 20 years from now.

 

They make a rubber membrane now that you apply to the wall ontop of the asphalt, it nails to teh wall and is channeled to drain the water down to the tile..
Guy is coming ou tomorrow evening to take a look-see and give me a firm estimate on the excavating. I am pretty much decided to do the rest of the job myself, not only to save a few $$( I am notoriously cheap), but so I KNOW what is done and how..


Scotty, THE BOSS says to tell you she makes a mean peanut butter and jelly tortilla...

 

Tell her to try tuna and peanut butter!

 

WOW

I didnt think it possible,but you just made THE BOSS speechless!!!
she was too busy gagging to talk!!!