In my previous post Foundation wall water proof, you can see that the weeping tile is installed. The weeping tile which is a 4″ perforated pipe has white fabric sock around it to prevent sediment from entering the weeping tile. Then the weeping is buried in a pile of 3/4″ clear gravel. Gravel also filters sand and sediments from water and it provides a good drainage backup to the weeping tiles in case the weeping tile system is clogged. Now to maintain that good drainage property of the gravel, it is a best practice to lay a layer of filter fabric around the gravel so that sediments doesn’t enter the gravel layer and therefore maintain that good drainage of the gravel layer.In fact the ideal installation would be lay the filter fabric down first, and put a thin layer of gravel down. Then put the weeping tile and pile a thick layer of gravel on top. And finally wrap the filter fabric around the gravel before back fill.
My foundation contractor did not put down any filter fabric because they believe the typical gravel layer is enough. However, I want something better. So for $55, I bought 2 rolls of 3′ x 100′ landscape fabric from Lowe’s. The landscape fabric which will allow air and water to pass through but will block soil, sand, sediments from entering the gravel. And then I dug up the area a little bit and laid the landscape fabric on top of the gravel. Now it is not as good as wrapping the gravel with the landscape fabric but it is better than nothing.
And here it is, that dark black fabric you see at the bottom of the trench with some mud and gravel on top is the landscape fabric that I have put down. I’ve got the entire house covered except for a small area to the south where part of the trench wall fall down and I wasn’t able to move earth that heavy.
Here’s the area in the back, they are all covered by the 3′ wide landscape fabric.
On the front, I covered all the way to the side of the stair. The front of the stair is not covered since there might be some plumbing work and the plumber might need to dig this area up.
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