850 sqft. Addition to house - Rockin' and Rollin'

[HawkinsHollow]

Good morning! I have been a busy boy working on the addition to my house and things are progressing rather well. Grading work, footings dug and poured and the guys came to lay the block wall yesterday. Finally out of the ground!! A little drainage work and we are onto framing.

I know I am going to have questions as I go along and I value the knowledge and wisdom that is wrapped up in TBN. So this is going to be a place I come to ask your opinion on some things.

My first question is about drainage. As you can tell by the pics the lot drains towards the back of the yard. I am going to backfill along the entire left side of the block wall. Because of this I am going to be careful how I handle the water that is coming towards the front of the house. The plan is for a french drain along the front and side. And a surface drain at both corners of the addition that will catch gutter water and any surface drainage. They have a white rigid drainage pipe at HD that is a little on the thin side. I imagine these are capable of handling the weight of about 3 feet of dirt, right? There is no need for thicker PVC, correct?
Any advice, tips, tricks for french drains and surface drainage are welcome.

 

[EddieWalker]

Congratulations on your progress!!!

It looks like they are building the block right up to the height of your door. How will you install your floor joists so the finished floor is below the door?

In my opinion, French Drains are the go to, fix everything solution that never ever works very well, and then they plug up and quit working. It's just a matter of time until they plug up. No screen, filter or wrap will keep all the sediment out of them.

The only proven method to keep water away from a house, and move it where you need it to be is a trench. You can get creative with a trench and line it with rock, you can make a concrete path into a trench to carry water, or you can just make it really wide so most people wont even notice it, and let grass grow over it.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Congratulations on your progress!!!

It looks like they are building the block right up to the height of your door. How will you install your floor joists so the finished floor is below the door?

In my opinion, French Drains are the go to, fix everything solution that never ever works very well, and then they plug up and quit working. It's just a matter of time until they plug up. No screen, filter or wrap will keep all the sediment out of them.

The only proven method to keep water away from a house, and move it where you need it to be is a trench. You can get creative with a trench and line it with rock, you can make a concrete path into a trench to carry water, or you can just make it really wide so most people wont even notice it, and let grass grow over it.

Yeah, I hear what you are saying on french drains. Seems a bit like a hope and prayer kinda thing that they work as they are intended. Because I am not going to be diggin them up to find out. That being said, I am still putting one in. Along with creative grading and surface drains. The only way out for the water that comes toward the front of this building to through a tube. Luckily we are only talking about a 400 sqft area , all grass. Whether is be french drain or a surface drain. No possibility for trenching.
Where I backfill the side I will be able to get creative with trenching.

The block is lower than the door by about 5". But in the back is 3" higher than it should be because the house drops 3" from front to back. Floor joists are going to be 2x8. We made the block level obviously and are going to have to get creative furring up the floor in the existing structure to match the addition. The joys of dealing with old structures.

 

[EddieWalker]

I enjoy seeing pictures of framing. Where I'm from in CA, pier and beam was very common in home construction. Here in East Texas, everything is built on a solid slab.

 

[JJT]

Run a pair of drainage pipes, you will not regret it.

If you can find it ADS N-12 is the best drainage pipe I've ever used. Smooth wall interior, corrugated exterior with very high crush resistance. It only needs 12" of cover.

 

[kenmbz]

We use swales here to move water around the house since I live on the side of a hill.
Trenches where we need to move a lot of water fast.

 

[2manyrocks]

If you plan to install a perimeter footer drain, get some road bed geotextile fabric, lay it in the trench, then place the drain pipe with the correct pitch, add gravel, then wrap the fabric over the top so that the rock/pipe are fully encased in the fabric. Then back fill over it. There is a huge difference between the fabric used for road bed construction and the thin stuff they sell at the box stores that will rip open and allow dirt to penetrate.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Ok! Drainage on the front of the house done! Had a good rain storm last night and today and it did well. A french drain along the front that breaks in the middle, the right half drains to the concrete surface drain the left side drains all the way around to the back (or will eventually). A surface drain on either side. And ample opportunity to tailor the surface drainage along the front. Yes the left side is uncomfortably close to framing but it is the hand I was dealt, I will be using a Pressure treated 2x8 rim board along front and side. Also, it can come down about 2 or 3 inches on that side, just letting is settle in a bit to find its happy place.

 

[EddieWalker]

Did the storms from this past week cause any damage?

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Ok Sorry I have been away for a while we have been going full bore on our addition and it is going very well.
We started on the floor system the week of June 3rd. It was just me a a couple not super experienced fledging carpenters but we knocked it out, nice and level and flat.

The week of the 10th one of my best freinds who is an amazing carpenter came into town to help with framing. Him, the fledgling carpenters and myself framed it up and got half of the roof on it in 5 LONG days.

And then last week me and my fledgling carpenters finished up the roof system and got it dried in under tar paper.

This past week was spent buttoning up a few things so the roofers can come early next week. It has been a TON of work in the HOT Tennessee sun but it is all going to be worth it. Just a little more framing to do and then I can call for my framing inspection. We have started working on the inside of the existing house a bit. Gutting the kitchen and laundry room, and moving stuff out of that living area to make some minor changes to the interior.

All and all it has gone better than planned, no one has gotten hurt, we all learned a lot and I have saved a BOATLOAD of money doing this myself. More updates to come.