We have a sloped lot so we have a daylight basement. 15 courses of block have been laid. Along the outside of 1st course we have laid a continious roll of that 4", black drain tile. We have covered the tile w/ 6" of limestone gravel. ?1, Were we supposed to use some kind of landscaping material before the gravel? I have loads of creek gravel that we intend to fill up the remaining 3' of space around 3 of the walls. This creek gravel varies from sand size to fist size material. ?2,Will this drain ok, or should we use all crushed limestone? Around these 3 walls there will be an 8' covered deck w/ the guttering tiled quite aways from the basement wall's so we hope these covered decks will further protect the basement from water. ?3,on the deep end of the basement the creek gravel will be 8' deep, will this flimsy roll of tile hold up or collapse? Thanks K&H.
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Hi macrosgt3,
You have a lot going on here. Yes, you should have laid a filter fabric or landscape fabric down first before you laid your gravel and piping and covering-gravel. Not having done that will allows the dirt to 'pollute' your gravel and eventually, it may lead to clogging in your piping. Once you see dirt or silt coming out your drain tile, you know that's what's happening. You may be able to slow down the process if you were to lay some 30 lb felt on TOP of whatever you have now. This will channel away most of the water that runs down vertically towards the tile. Water may still migrate horizontally but, the further out away from the wall you lay the felt, the better your chances are the dirt will stay 'dry' under the felt. Of course, laying down the felt almost defeats the purpose of the tile (but not really.) In short, lay down an 'umbrella' of felt as large as reasonably possible over the drain tile. I'd lay it down at LEAST 12" from the surface. (The deeper, the better because it's that much closer to the house.) And run the felt right up against the foundation too.
I'd stick with crushed stone. NO SAND! It will clog your tile. You should stick with 3/4" as a benchmark. A litle smaller or larger is OK. RE: The deck situation - I can't understand what you're saying. Perhaps I answered that one indirectly up above ...
My best to ya and hope this helps.
Jay J -Moderator
PS: GOd Bless America!
