Foundation - The Enclosure

First Delivery of Durisol ICF block from Ontario

5 of 21 skids stored in base of pit until needed (where walkout will be so out of way of foundation)

In this photo I was welding risers to support the raised corner mats which almost got me in a lot of trouble as rebar was not graded for welding. Fortunately, low power 15A Mig gasless welder was only tacking onto the surface, not penetrating rod where it would have weakened it.

Of course we need to keep it all dry, so another tarp.

Footing for basement walk-up stairs is formed and rebar placement started

20M grid at 10 inch spacing. Can also see the beginnings of the raised corner grids that have 1.5 inch top cover instead of the 1.5 inch bottom cover of the main grid.

Deck complete and covered with plastic. Will keep plywood in better shape during pour so can be re-used for upper storey floor sheathing.

Shoring in place, starting to deck

Now I need to install rented shoring scaffolding to support slab until cured.

Forming suspended garage slab

Taking down final remaining scaffolding. It has served me well!

Started forming suspended concrete slab for garage floor that will provide bonus room below

Sifting rock out of the soil excavated from the pit to use as backfill soil as I get closer to the top of the walls (do not want rocks in my landscape garden beds).

Storm water management continues to be a chore!

Success! I am once again able to drive Alfie from the front to rear of property.

Finally, the interface between the PVC and membranes was sealed with R-Guard Joint and Seam. While technically not for use below grade because vapour permeable, this was a suitable use because it is highly water proof and flexible, and the amount of vapour that can flow through the hairline cracks this is sealing would be unmeasurable.

Jonathan filling up gravel pocket. Only way to do this was with 5 gallon buckets.

Finally, enough of the south elevation was filled in that I could get Alfie to the back yard again where most of the backfill stockpile was located. In addition to the extra dirt I had dug out of the pit during excavation, I also needed Diamond to drop off 4 trucks of soil.

Starting to work down the south elevation. Again, the plywood is being used to create a pocket for the gravel drainage plane installed outboard of the dimple sheet.

I also installed moisture and temperature sensors for a basement wall lab I am sponsoring. These are at various elevations and were placed in the concrete ICF core, ROXUL insulation layer, and backfill.

With half the wall height backfilled, I am torching on the final membrane at the top of the wall with my nephew Jonathan.

Clear sand was used around my 200A tech cable that is my main service to the house.

Backfill under way at last. Each 8 to 12 inch lift was compacted.

Cover all perimeter piping system with 8 inches of gravel before covering the gravel with geotextile and backfill.

Preparing for backfill. In addition to the torch-on membrane and dimple sheet, I am also creating a granular drainage channel vertically along outside of foundation. I did this with sheets of plywood that were back-filled on the inside with gravel and on the outside with soil in lifts. I draped geotextile over the plywood before backfilling with soil.

Step 1 of waterproofing was to inspect, clean, and repair the bag footing and then fasten to ICF block with staples. I would not use a bag footing next time as too susceptible to damage during construction process.

Installing perimiter drainage pipe (photo shows perimiter pipe along left edge and basement walkout floor drain in middle).

Step 6 - Install dimple sheet membrane. I used Delta Drain 6000 Hi-X. This has a geotextile glued to tops of dimples and you then apply the flat side of the membrane to the insulation and fabric out. This prevents the dimples from sinking into the insulation and the fabric prevents backfill dirt from plugging the dimples. I also could of used traditional dimple and just draped poly sheet over the dimples (suggested by Delta Rep), but the 600 Hi-X was actually cheaper.

Step 5 - After applying a light flame to membrane - adhere ROXUL ComfortboardIS insulation panels

Inverts into sump are sealed with non-shrinking grout. Note the invert about three feet lower than the perimeter pipe inverts. This drains the floor drain of the walk-up, but more importantly, it will drain the granular base across the whole excavation. This drainage plane will keep the floor slab and footings dry and also aid in the removal of any radon if present.

Step 4 - Torch on Soprema's Colphene Torch'N Stick. This membrane has a torchable top surface that allows you to adhere insulation panels to it.

Step 2 - Seal top of bag footing to ICF using a transition membrane from Soprema called Sopralene Flam Stick.

Step 3 - Prime ICF with Soprema's Elastocol 500

End result turn out great! The suspended garage slab will be installed later at the top left corner which is why there is rebar sticking out of these walls.

I chose to form the top of the foundation with plywood. I had several profiles needed to provide insulation pockets. This also allows me to ensure the top of the foundation is at the right elevation and perfectly level.

Pour day for foundation. High-Def Concrete did a great job.

ICF wall is high enough that I now need a scaffold and an entry way into the pit. I would raise this scaffold three times during the placing of the ICF block

Scaffold complete - I was able to dolly blocks from side of road, down runners on the stairs and around the perimeter to the spot needed. Here I am installing the horizontal rebar placed in every second course.

Pouring day for footings.

Starting the ICF construction. This shot also shows the fabric footing forms I attached to the bottom course of blocks. I would not use this product next time and would just form up conventional footings.

Most of the forms in place

Fabricated insulation forms that will be used for internal footings.

Flooded again. Time to install a second pump tied in with a 1 inch PVC pipe

Time for Alfie to vacate the pit. Being assisted by tow truck but this was still a very scary ride as half of the ramp had washed out and there was now not enough room for both of Alfie's tracks, so I am using the bucket to push up on the left side.

Placing dowels to tie footing with foundaiton wall

Final blow! Tarp is shredded in a severe wind storm

Nothing left but the cleanup!

Security is handled by the ever vigilant Blackberry

Unloading floor truss pack from transport. Also see in foreground that footing zones have been identified and compacted. I located all footings with batter boards.

First modules in place

Starting to layout supports for footing modules.

Rented a rough terrain fork lift to unload my floor truss pack arriving from Quebec. Here I am using to lower a metal I-Beam (for BB2 on drawing S02). I used the I-Beam to build the footing modules.

I wrapped dowels with some rebar wire and then hung them from a piece of wood at the right penetration into the footing zone.

These are the moisture and temperature sensors that were installed into the foundation lab

Last minute preparations - building box for concrte left in hopper at end of pump process.

My footing placing crew was the neighbours on each side. I have awesome neighbours. I also had assistance from a friend who is not in this photo.

Skybridge provided access to pit. This was probably the most useful aid to construction that has been used to date. Not having to access via a ladder made everything faster, easier, and safer.

I fastened horizontal bars with two screws to hold into place.

Stairs outfitted with runners to allow for dolly movements.

Top of foundation curb also had a 10M bar installed with 1.5 inch inside and top cover.

I marked all anchor bolt locations and then hung them in place with fishing line. Was easy for placers to swing into place during pour.

Large Penetration Sealing Step 1. A peel and stick membrane with a torchable top surface was installed tightly and then lightly torched.

'Flower Box' forms doorway drop downs as top of foundation is 6 inches above grade.

Torch on membrane was then installed. This photo is interface before top u-shaped membrane is placed.

I levelled first course of insulation to ensure subsequent rows would all sit tightly with no gaps at seams.

View showing the gravel vertical drainage plane. This drainage plane continues to base where it joins the gravel overfill placed above the perimeter drainage pipe.

Perimiter drainage pipe installed at a .5% slope

Method#1 used to raise the plywood used to create the gravel drainage plane.

Method#2 worked a bit better.

I used a table saw to cut the ROXUL when forming the foundation. Worked well, but I had to do outdoors and wear protective gear. I made up this cutting jig that also had a slot in the bottom to capture the knife and ensure a square straight cut. Was fast and easy to cut the panels.

But the fastest and easiest method was this pallet grabber.

Prior to pouring the basement stair walkup footing, I installed dimple membrane against the main house footing. This will provide a drain path for any water the will collect at base of insulation that will form a pocket between the two footings.

Dimple sheet overlaps footing and sheds water to top of perimeter drainage pipe

I used these clearance marble tiles to support the chairs on the gravel (normal practice is concrete tiles, but these are heavy and pricey. I paid about $0.30 cents for the tiles)

Footing rebar grid included main grid, bent dowels to tie into foundation that will be poured later, and a raised grid near the west walkout foundation wall.

I used electrical box metal plate covers to support the rebar chairs on the foam so it would not dig in.

A pop-up awning will protect the footing from the rain during pour and initial cure. The diagonals were pinned with one screw and fast to raise and lower.

I used a brick carrier attached to a length of rope to lift the footing modules with the tractor

Lifting next module made up of three Durisol blocks fastened together with 2x4 stringers along each top edge.

With the module lifted in place, fine tuning was performed with adjustable feet. Once level at right elevation, cross 2x2's were attached to ICF blocks and then attached to vertical posts. The vertical posts were attached to metal stakes as ground was too dense to pound in wood stakes

Use speed square to align footing modules to string lines run from batter boards.

Any partial block lengths were filled in with pieces of ICF panel and screwed into place.

I placed ROXUL inserts into formwork to create the pockets that they will be installed into once pour is complete and waterproofing has been done.

Since I covered ROXUL inserts with poly before pour, they can now be used for final installation.

View down horizontal cavities created by the top of one ICF block and bottom of the next course.

A check of foundation with string line showed a nice true line with no deflection.

At the base of the backfill, I also buried a 3/4 inch PEX Pipe that will be filled with salt water and pumped to use as a pre-conditioning loop for the HRV

The slab generated a lot of heat during the first three days

Hi Def Concrete did a great job on this finished garage slab

Hard at work pouring slab, but happy for a roof over their head on this very wet day.

Plan worked out perfectly. Form work was rigid and did not bow during pour. This photo also shows the 10M rod installed with 1.5 inch top and inside concrete cover. Because I was pouring the curb and slab at same time, I did not need to install dowels to tie two together.

All plumbing and electrical penetrations also had to be installed prior to pour

Here is a close up of one of the finished cormer grids. The two layer grid provides additional strength in all 4 corners of the slab. The large white PVC pipe is for an 8 inch supply and exhaust duct that will service a metalwork shop below.

Kept slab wet with burlap and soaker hoses

Planned forms to create raised concrete curb above slab

Heavy Haul! Delivering all of the shoring materials back to the rental yard

So much easier to just dump the self-compacting crush concrete down the hole!

Drilling out penetrations on north wall that will service the heat pump and generator

Backfill almost complete. Was a tight fit for Alfie!

I elected to backfill north elevation with crushed recycled concrete. It is half price of gravel and so much faster than backfilling with soil. I needed to get the backfill tasks complete and get started on framing

When it was time to strip, an air gun worked great to snap the heads of the cross ties

This is how I should have secured the corners

Before the other corner opened up, it to was strengthened

While crew continued pour, I shovelled all of the spilt concrete away from the area to allow stripping of the forms later. Was a tough day!

Pour did not go off without some drama – the corner of the forms opened up and I lost about a third of a yard. Had to stop and push forms back together and reinforce before finishing. Good thing I had some extra ordered.

Inspecting finished pour

At last - Pour day!

Vertical whalers held into place by these clamps that nail to the horizontal boards

Horizontal 2x4 whalers held in place with metal plates that clip onto ties

I had left these dowels out when I poured the footing to prevent the pour crew tripping over, so now they had to be drilled and epoxied into place

The rebar for this wall was much easier to detail compared to the ICF. If starting again, I would choose a site formed foundation over ICF

Before north elevation can be back-filled, we need to form and pour the retaining wall around the basement walk-up stairs.

°C

A Lasting Legacy to the Building Science Community

© 2024 The Enclosure

Website Design by Honeycomb Creative