Building a Custom Home Series, Part XIV: Waterproofing, Plumbing Ground Works, and Slab

The walls at our Great Falls Street (GFS) home are complete!

If you have financed your construction project with a construction loan, the bank will require a “wall check.” The wall check is done by the site engineer. They make a trip out to the site to confirm the foundation walls are in the right spot (important right?). After the field work is complete, they will produce a survey of the wall check that looks like this:

The bank will want a copy of the wall check, and it’s always good to give a copy to the builder!

Back at the site, we’re ready to waterproof the walls.

The black stuff being sprayed on the walls will help prevent moisture from any ground water or storm water from seeping through the foundation wall. Concrete is a very porous material which is why it is imperative to take certain steps during and after construction is complete.

In addition to waterproofing the foundation walls, we also install an interior and exterior drain tile system. What the heck is drain tile? It’s a drainage system that directs groundwater that might gather around the house to the sump pump which then pumps the water out and away from the house.

The 4” drain tile pipe is run along the footer on the exterior and interior of the house. This is what the pipe looks like:

After the pipe is installed, it’s covered with filter fabric.

Then gravel is placed on top to keep everything in place.

Backfill can now be completed. The excavator will come back to the site and fill in the over dig around the foundation walls.

After the backfill is completed, plumbing ground works can start. Any basement plumbing (bathroom, wet bar, etc.) is installed before the slabs are poured.

After the plumbing is complete, the slabs are prepped, poured, and finished.

The foundation is now completed! As I’ve said before, the foundation stage is the most unpredictable stage in construction. But once you get through this stage, you can release the audible sigh of relief and get excited for the next stage. Framing!

I can smell the fresh lumber now…

Dream Big. Build Smart.