Sunday 14 September 2014

Interior Weeping System: Day 3 - Laying Waterguard and Starting the Membrane

On Day 3 we placed the Waterguard, and started hanging the membrane.

If you haven't already, catch up with this project by reading about days 1 and 2 (clicking will open the link in a new window):
Day 1 -  Chipping out a the sump
Day 2 - Chipping out the perimeter trenches
Day 3 - Installing the Waterguard and Membrane
Day 4 - Plumbing the sump
Day 5 - Concrete pour!
Day 6 - Membrane and lower shelf
Day 7 - Final shelf and panelling

Now onto the days work!

Disclaimer

The usual disclaimers apply -- I'm not a professional and this is total Do It Yourself (DIY) project.  Seek professional input prior to attempting this project.  It is NOT an easy project and requires a significant amount of work, knowledge and capability.  Make sure you fully understand all relevant design, structural, and geotechnical aspects, including the building code and applicable bylaws prior to starting.  Any doubts, hire someone qualified :)  We've had good success (so far), but that isn't a prediction of success at other sites.

Remember that weird looking pipe?

 It was 2" ID / 2.5" OD.  Seemed to large to be an old fuel oil pipe.  I suppose it was an old drain of some sort.  Here it is:

We lucked out and it was easily removed by hand.  Anyone know what it might have been?



Securing the sump
Next we secured the location of the sump.  To do this, we put a 1-2" layer of 3/4" clear stone on the bottom to level the sump, and poured 3/4" clear stone around the edges until the liner was secured.

Laying the Waterguard

 You need to leave around 2" above the Waterguard for concrete.  We eyed this with a level as shown on the next photo.



After that, it was a matter of placing, taping, measuring, cutting, and repeat.  It was quite straight forward. We had a few runs that were not quite straight between the jack posts, so I added some red Tuck tape to strengthen the joints in addition to the Waterguard tape.  This helped a lot as we moved the Waterguard here and there for alignment purposes.  The next photos show the Waterguard being laid out.


The corner above had to be made by hand.  I used an 10" chop saw which was able to cut through the water guard if you placed it just right.  For chop saw cuts that didn't quite cut the whole thing, a hack saw worked well.  You can also see one of the inspection / cleaning ports I added.





Passing by the main water service



The main water service entered the house around 2" below the floor height so the Waterguard couldn't be continuous.    We *carefully* chipped by hand the concrete below the water line, so water could pass, and put clear stone between the drainage channels.  Then we made a plastic form on top of channels to keep the concrete out when it was poured.  You can see the process here:


UK verses North America Pipe....  Doesn't match up

The Waterguard is manufactured in the UK.  One of the accessories is a "T" which connects a 65mm pipe from the drainage channel to the sump.  The 65mm pipe that comes with the accessory is quite short, and I needed a longer piece.  Unfortunately, UK pipes are not the same as North America; We checked Canadian Tire and Homedepot and neither had pipes that matched.  Ahh, the age old battle of Metric vs Imperial....  So, we used 2" ABS pipe, and a 2" coupler.  The OD of the coupler fit perfectly in the reducer which connects the pipe to the drainage channel, we took a few photos to show it.



After the Waterguard was laid out, we used granular to wedge it into place.  For approximately 32 metres and filling up half way around the sump liner, I used eight, 30 kg bags of 19mm clear stone. I'll need maybe 4 bags more, but at least two bags of those are for where I chipped a lots to eventually level the floor.  So, for my situation, looks like I will use around one 30 kg bag per 3 metres, or one 60 lbs bag per 10 feet.   The trench was 0.15 wide (5-6"), and we put around 1" of stone under the entire length of the Waterguard.

Installing the membrane

We moved quite quickly and I was very happy with the progress.  Only the third day of work, and we are on to the membrane!  A trip to Rona and I picked up Delta MS dimpled membrane, Delta fasteners, the Delta top strip and a single shot Ramset powder actuated concrete nail fastener system.

Using two people, we hung the membrane, and I learned how to use the Ramset gun.  The Ramset was fast and easy (and it what's recommended for the Delta membrane).  For my walls, the green power charge was the right strength.


Here's a tip, get the membrane installed before wedging in the Waterguard.  What a pain to pull back the flange to get the membrane behind.  If I did this again, I'd lay out the waterguard, install the membrane, THEN secure the Waterguard with clear stone.

One note, the Delta MS is listed by the manufacturer for exterior use only, but the specs of Delta MS and Delta FL seem to be identical.   I've read that the MS has recycled content in it and might have a plastic smell.  Mine certainty did not have any odours to it, also MS is 60% cheaper than FL.

A few photos.  The basement is much darker with the membrane up.  Even though the basement will never be a finished basement, it looks like we'll by installing dry wall anyways to lighten it up ( I couldn't find anything cheaper per square foot).







We just hung the membrane with a few fasteners (I only had 25).  Over the next few evenings, I'll install the top strip to finish the membrane,  top the trenches with clear stone where necessary and generally get it ready for concrete.  I think I'll need 20 to 25 bags of concrete, can't say I'm looking forward to this step.

If you haven't already, catch up with this project by reading about days 1 and 2 (clicking will open the link in a new window):
Day 1 -  Chipping out a the sump
Day 2 - Chipping out the perimeter trenches
Day 3 - Installing the Waterguard and Membrane
Day 4 - Plumbing the sump
Day 5 - Concrete pour!

Material Quantities To Date

  • 0.15 x 0.15 x 32 metre perimeter trench -- 1,800 to 2,000 kg of soil/dirt/concrete removed
  • 240 kg of 19mm clear stone (I'll need another 120 kg I think)
  • (2) rolls of Delta MS


As always, more to come!

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the details...I'm doing very similar work with the MS and needed a little info on hanging it. Ramset it is!

    ReplyDelete