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!

DIY Ikea Murphy Bed

Hi All

My wife found a DIY ikea bed made by Herbie (link) and a 2nd version made by Jerry (link).  Thanks to those two for the great sites!  Needless to say, the project was born for our house.

A few changes --

1. Our room was smaller and we couldn't fit the extra two Pax cabinets on the outside.  This required changes to structure. With no side cabinets, the side of the main cabinet is not supported.  I added vertical supports (3/4" melamine) along the full length of the cabinet and bolted them to the wall.  
2. Another change was that my toe kick had to be structural in nature to support the bottom corners. 
3. I had to shorten the cabinet by 2" to fit underneath a trim strip at the top of my wall -- note, we cut this from the bottom of the panel, it seems to work.  Make sure to check clearances!  You still need the door to be flush with the top, but not hit the floor if you cut too much off.
4. I have big baseboards and trim -- I cut a profile out from the side panels so that that cabinet would sit flush with the wall.

I was worried that the single thickness of the side panel wouldn't be enough, but so far it seems to be okay.

My photos show the build process with a little bit of detail.  I'm happy to add more if asked. For reference I basically followed Herbie's site and Jerry's site. (link)  (link)

1. - The trim profile I cut.  This was painful as I didn't have the proper tools (pipe cleaners are not wonderful for holding a profile).  At Lee Valley I found this PVC Trim Gauge AFTER I cut the profile.  Oh well.  I cut the profile with a jig saw.

2.  I had to cut quite a few lengths of melamine to make the horizontal ledger board and vertical support beams.  The sheets are too heavy for a table saw, especially without extension rollers which I don't have.  I use a long straight board as a guide for my skill saw.  I masking taped the cut line as well as the sled on the saw so it wouldn't scratch the melamine.

I used 4" wide strips.  For my saw, it's roughly 4.5" from the edge to the guide as there is a 1.5" offset from the sled edge to the blade.  With a sliding ruler, it's easy to set the width one and quickly make long accurate cuts.

3.  The setup just before cutting.

 

 4.  Starting the cut.

5.  Supporting the back once the melamine starts to sag.  Note, do not pinch the blade here if you do this, open the cut a bit, then clamp.  Alternately, get helper to help.

6.  I fastened the horizontal ledger board ahead of time to the top panel.  I used these 70mm knock down bolts from Lee Valley (link).   I made the top panel pretty much exactly like Herbie.  I used 3/4" melamine.  Attached the ledger board to the cabinet meant that I didn't need anti-tip brackets, the ledger was bolted directly to the wall and serves that purpose.

7.  I made a nice jig to set the bolt location.  I spent 10 minutes on this, and saved hours over the course of the project!

8.  Top panel with bolts installed.  For the top, I didn't countersink the bolts since you won't see them.  For the side vertical supports I countersunk and covered the bolt holes (later photos).

9.  Here is the partially built cabinet in the room.  You can see the installed horizontal ledger board.

10.  Here is one vertical support being installed.

11.  The bolt holes are countersunk with a small forstner bit, and later covered.  I used white PVC screw covers from Lee Valley (link).

12.  You can see the two vertical supports added.  I was really worried about the side panels when they weren't supported.  I had visions of standing this up and the legs splaying out sideways and breaking the connection at the top panel.  You can see a temporary brace I used to help support the bottom of the cabinet.

13.  Cabinet tipped up.  Yes, that light is in the way...  This was most definitely a two person job, likely even three person.  I had a really strong guy help out.  Without him, three people would probably have been needed.

14.  The cabinet placed against the wall.  For bolting to the wall, I used 3" toggle bolts with large washers.  It's not super pretty, but I couldn't fathom drilling anchors and moving the whole cabinet back and forth, or lining up holes / etc.  I drilled a hole directly through the melamine and into the wall.  From there, the toggle bolt was pushed through and bolted.

15.  Here you can see the profile I cut out for the cabinet to fit against the trim.  Also you can see that I had the pleasure of cutting out a section of corner round for the murphy bed frame.  I put the murphy bed frame on heavy duty felt pads to protect the floor.

16.  Murphy bed frame installed.  You can see the toggle bolts securing the supports to the wall.

17.  The toe kick was fabricated from two 3" strips of 5/8" plywood, laminated with carpenters glue and screws.   I let the glue dry overnight. I sanded out the mill marks and finished the front face of the plywood. I used a spackle compound to help smooth out the rough plywood.  It needed to be quite smooth to match the gloss melamine.  Note that I did this before attaching the top piece.

18.  I used dowels and glue to secure the top melamine piece.

19.  Lots of clamps needed....   After drying, I primed with a primer/sealer to help block knot bleed though, and two coats of paint.

20.  Finished toe kick.

21.  For the foundation, I used 5/8" plywood.  It was two pieces of plywood 36.5 x 53.5 (for a double).
I didn't want to buy an extra sheet, so I ended up actually joining two pieces for (dowels + glue) for one of the pieces.  Those blocks are temporary while the glue dried.

22.  One foundation piece with the notch cut for the spring bar.  Notch dimensions from the murphy bed website (website or PDF manual).  I should have rounded the corners a bit, especially the corners at the end of the foundation.  Our mattress was a tiny bit smaller than the foundation, and the sharp corners are perfect shin bone height.

 23.  We covered the foundation, here is one of the them covered.

24.  Foundations installed on the murphy bed frame.

25.  The final product.  We're quite happy and my mother in law arrives in 15 minutes to try it out!

26.  Inside view, a few lights from Ikea added for guests.

27.  All done.

Any comments or questions?  I'd love to hear them!  Don't forget to check out a few more of my renos here: http://renosandoldhouses.blogspot.ca.