What’s the rule for disturbing soil near a house and, ahem, what do you do to fix a problem if you cut too close? This is for a french drain placed near a house foundation. The soil in this case is clay.
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Dont dig up the whole side of the house all at once . Do it in say 8' sections . Dig it to the elevation needed , add stone then your perferated pipe , cover with marafi cloth then backfill . What you want to try and avoid is undermining the foundation . Check the weather for the day also when you do this . If rain is in the forcast don,t do the work that day . A lot of water can undermine your house when you have a big hole next to your footing . Excavation is not rocket science , but it does require some knoledge . Don,t forget to pitch your perferated pipe .
Mike - Foxboro
Storme,
Is this a rubble filled trench foundation? Doesn't need a drain.
A dry laid rock foundation with crawl space? May not need drain.
Concrete or mortared block or stone? Dig as close to the wall as possible without slamming into the wall with the backhoe bucket.
You only have to excavate down to the footings, which should be below the slab in a basement and below interior grade in a crawl space.
You should be able to excavate the entire foundation at one time. If you expect lots (=>1/2"/hr) of rain while the trench is open, where the trench itself drains, lay a 1/2" to 1 1/2" pipe in the end of the trench and pile a 1' dam over the pipe to slow the flow of water out of the trench.
SamT
edit: Aye con't spiel fer shot.
Edited 8/20/2005 11:29 am ET by SamT