My house was built on a hill south of Portland, OR. Dry, well drained soil. The basement is set into the hill so that it is a walk out on two adjacent sides, east and south. The hill slopes from north down to south. The building is L shaped with a section extending further south. The footing on the southern face of the section that doesn’t extend as far south has become exposed, and there are critter holes going under the footing. I tried filling the critter holes, but the critters are determined and just opened the holes up, again.
North
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* * Exposed footing all along this wall.
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South
Two questions:
1. Do I need to do something to act as a retaining wall so I can refill above the exposed footing?
2. What technique will thwart the efforts of the critters? I have seen a chipmunk in the vicinity, and I saw what I think is a chipmunk track on the fresh dirt by one of the holes.
Replies
To fill the hole you need crushed rock with pieces larger than the animals trying to get through. Or concrete.
It probably would be wise, if the bottom of the footing is being exposed, to build a retaining wall out 2-4 feet from the footing and backfill. This could be built with dry-stacked precast retaining wall blocks. It needs to have a footing (the bottom of the lowest course) 8-12" below the finished grade, and should come up at least 8-12 inches above the point where the footing is exposed. Backfill with crushed rock, with soil on top (and "filter fabric" between rock and soil), sloped away from the house slightly.
To fill the hole you need
Thanks for the ideas. I think I can manage those. We've built a few walls with Cottage Stone, so we should be able to handle retaining wall blocks.