I have a 1910 7′ high brick wall basement in NJ that needs a new cement floor. How thick should the new cement floor be poured and how far down should I put the French Drain? Also, do you recommend using those plastic edging between the brick and the new cement floor? Should I also use a plastic vabor barrier on the dirt before I dump the cement?
THANKS in advance!
Replies
Just wanted to mention that now is a good time to give yourself more headspace in there by digging down to the wall foundation depth and removing the dirt across the floor then pouring. Those inches add up.
I lot depends on your future plans for the space, but the minimum concrete depth should be 4". A good adea is to also have have 4" of crushed stone onder the slab and the poly over the stone. The foundation drain should be beside the interior footing line and either exit to a daylight drain or a sump pump that discharges to daylight away from the foundation.
If you are going to use the basement as an occupied space, you might want to consider doing an insulated slab with 2"of rigid foam under the poly. There are pros and cons for slab isolation. The plastic isolation piece is just a bond breaker between the slab and the wall. They offer little, if any, expansion room for the slab. A better isolation method ,IMO, is 1" rigid foam. It is compressable enough to be an expansion joint and also serves as a thermal break between the wall and the slab.
Now if Gabe Martel will jump in here, he can correctand modify my ramblings.
Thanks for the comments.
I just broke the floor concrete and dug two holes on the left/right side of my basement. The footing is brick that sticks out about 2" toward the basement floor and about 7"-8" deep. How deep am I allowed to dig for the new concrete floor, without causes weekness? Can I be at the last brick of the footing that hits dirt or do I need to be at the top of the footing. I would love to get more inches, but don't want to cause problems in the future. THANKS
I'm a homeowner DIYer so I'm hesitant to give advice thinking I might unintentionally lead you astray in some fashion.But if you're just willing for an opinion, I would think, without seeing what you have there, that if you are ready to pour then you could go right down to the base of the foundation and pour the floor right up against it. But since you're putting in a drain system with it you'll need someone more qualified with experience than I am to troubleshoot your arrangement.
Best to you.