This gestation period for this post has set a new record, even for this blog, and I'm only writing it now because I'm on vacation from work/real life for a few days over Thanksgiving. I had planned to make the basement project Video Only, but for now that format has suffered a Twickenham Studios-style abandonment due to the following:
1. Setting up the camera and keeping on top of batteries, memory cards and decent camera angles slows down the project.
2. Editing the videos takes a lot of time.
3. A lot of the content is the same...
4. The time lag between doing the work and editing the videos means I'm bored with the content by the time I'm watching it back.
5. Surely that's enough...
Therefore, the next few sections probably the rest of this story will be told with stills which have been pilfered from unpublished videos, or snapped with my trusty canon powershot™.
So, with all that out of the way, what's been happenin' with the basement? This is the scene at the end of the last video; in real time this was the end of March 2021. We are usually done with wet weather by this point in a typical year, but we know the basement will flood when it does rain. So, the smart thing to do at this point is make a proper pit for the sump pump.
I started off by digging an eighteen (18) inch deep pit in the far corner of the basement.
Then I knocked up a topless and bottomless (!) box that is about sixteen inches square. The box is made from 2" x 12" pressure treated lumber.
In the next photo you can just about see the box in situ. I had to fiddle about (!) a bit to get it level:
This is the view after a second identical box has been placed on top. The plan is that the concrete floor will be flush with the top of the second box, so for now it protrudes about six (6) inches above the dirt. I will be installing the sump pump and the discharge pipe at the first hint of rain...
So, with that done, on with the show! In the next photo you can see the first section of the concrete we installed at the left, and the most recent section at the right, with a gap between them. The obvious difference is the more recent section extends much further up the original foundation. This is based on advice I received from a contractor friend who came by to check on my progress. The extra concrete means I can make twice as many attachment points with the rebar. Basically, when in doubt, make it stronger.
This is best illustrated in the next photo where two (2) rows of rebar protrude from the original concrete:
This later after the forms have been constructed...
Later still and the mixing/pouring operation is in full swing...
tune in again next week soon for another scintillating installment!
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