# backfilling basement walls question



## burntside bob (Sep 27, 2010)

Installing a basement. front of house footing dug 5 feet deep for frost, and 10 feet back each side to rear of building.
Lot slopes to one side and front.
Built up floor for a walk out on front of house basement.
back and side footings 8 inchs deep from top of fill all three sides with exception of front and 10 feet back from front each side.
My request for information is:
the front of the building is 5 feet deep in a 42 inch wide trech to be backfilled.
There is no drainage for water other then to seep into the ground, on the sides and back I will place 4 inch perf drain tile enveloped in washed rock day lighted to out side the back fill.
The 10 feet each side and front 5 feet deep water draiinage away from the foundation is my question what would you do?
At 5 feet deep I was down to digable ledge rock and earth (mixture of gravel), meaning I could break it up as I dug. The septic tank hole was at seven feet deep adjusting for ground slope level and back fill and it had water for five inches in the bottom (I placed pea rock on the bottom of the tank hole compact before tank installed and back filled).
What thoughts do you have on this question?


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## Chris Johnson (Apr 19, 2007)

Personally I would run the weeping tile around the 3 sides just below the slab height of the basement and run to daylight.


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## rino1494 (Jan 31, 2006)

If it is just a porch, you do not need any drain tile. If there is a crawlspace under the porch, then you need it all the way around.


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## burntside bob (Sep 27, 2010)

*more info from burntside bob*

rino its not a porch. its a house.
I am looking or seeking for other contractors thoughts of how to deal with the 5 foot deep trench footing for getting the water away from the foundation footings. Frost protection here requires five feet deep below surface footing depth. The sides and back will have soil placed against basement walls to take care of frost depth requirements. The walk out basement required me to dig 5 feet deep foundation footings and wrap it around each side 10 going bask to the back wall. The back and side walls drain tile will flow out from the front of the basement to the surface day lighted. the front and 10 feet back on each side will be 5 feet below the surface with no out let for the water that settles in the cut, filled with compacted soil. 
Any comments on how you would handle this getting the water away fromt he basement footing in front of the house? 
It could just go down to the water table, or it could pool and possibly freeze under the footings, thats my concern.


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## S.R.E. (Apr 8, 2010)

You need to have drainage that is below the bottom of the slab all the way around. Like Rino said if it is a porch don't worry about it but, you need drainage between the porch and the basement wall. Diagrams or pictures would be helpful.


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## Timo (Nov 22, 2006)

In my area, footing drains are designed to protect any habitable space below grade. I've never fooled with draining a sub-footer. Certainly not one five feet below slab elevation.

If this were a crawl space, would your local code require drains?


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## tgeb (Feb 9, 2006)

It sure would be nice to have a picture of this...

But I think I get the drift of what is going on here, you have a "walk out" condition that requires a deep footing, and you don't want to have to day light from the lower depth. Is this correct?

If it is, Chris already gave you the answer.

Back fill to below the slab, run your drains from there. The 5' of foundation below won't care.


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## rino1494 (Jan 31, 2006)

Oh, I understand now. You dug a frost footing for a walkout. It is ideal to run a footer drain to drain water away from the footers to daylight. If you cannot achieve this, then bring the drain halfway up the wall and run to daylight. If you still cannot acheive this, then come up halfway and run a pipe through the wall and into the basement and install a sump bucket.

Like I said before, it is ideal to drain from the bottom of the footer, but as long as you are below the basement slab, you are ok.


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## CanDoExcavating (Feb 11, 2010)

You don't need to worry about the walk out footing just leave as is we never tile walkouts here in SD


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