Form-a-Drain , i need to talk to experienced installers

[colonial carpentry]

I am a first time user of the Form -A -drain product line.I recently Excavated my own basement,And have installed the "form a drain" to the best of my knowledge.I have not poured the concrete yet so before i do ,i need to just double check my work. My first question would be -I have a frost footer ( 40" deeper than the main basement footer) to accomodate a walk-out basement,is it wise to drain the entire system from the lower level? question #2 If i have set the entire form-a-drain system completly level, will the water in the system find its way to the gravity drain i plan to use at the frost footer level? #3 should i have gravel in place (to the top of the formadrain) before i pour? #4 i have some water at the frost footer level and therefore my soil inside the footer has turned to muck ,can i pour concrete over water and about 6 inches of mud (only in about a 10 foot section) or should i allow this to completly dry out before i pour? P.s. i need responses as quickly as possible, i'm calling for inspections on monday! LoL

[Rich]

I've never used the form-a-drain system (too traditional I guess). The one question I've always had with it is how to get it to drain? If you're trying to keep the top aligned at the footing elevation how does the bottom slope to allow the water to flow to the outlet location?
#1) I would drain the system from the lowest level (see above for concerns).
#2) See above for concerns.
#3) No need to have gravel all the way to the top of the form - just enough at the bottom to hold it in place while placing concrete.
#4) Some water will not hurt you at all.. 6" of water/mud I might be a little concerned but would probably still place it if it wasn't too bad. Maybe throw some gravel in there and attempt to compact (it'll be messy).

[colonial carpentry]

Thanks for the rapid response ,Rich.I am still a little skeptical about not throwing any pitch on the system, i 'd like to make sure that the water is going to move,but at the same time i have to keep the top level i guess i have to rely on hydrostatic pressure to get the water moving!

[RobBase]

colonial, I also have never used the form-a-drain, but at the same time I'm currently building a house with a walk out basement so I've had the same train of thought on how to drain the frost footing at the back.

What I'm going to do at the walk out wall interior footing drain is to pour a stem wall up to the footing elevation for the rest of the basement. Then I'll backfill with dirt and compact (emphasis on "compact") up to an elevation that will allow a bit of slope so the rest of the basement drain pipe will run to the walk out section. From there I'll sleeve out through the wall and drain it to daylight.

Running a perforated drain pipe or form-a-drain dead level is perfectly OK as long as the water has an exit. The water inside the pipe will seek it's own level until it finds the exit then will begin to drain if it rises any more. Running the pipe or drain at a negative slope away from your exit is obviously not good.

The form a drain is vinyl extrusion but since I've never used it or seen it, I don't know how stiff it is to hold back your footing pour. You can be the judge of that, if it seems rather flimsy, stake it out for your footings then backfill it to the top or close to the top so the gravel will help it to hold back the concrete. It's always OK to have more gravel under a slab then less.

And for your muddy footing, the way it sounds, your inspector will not pass it and you absolutely do not want your footing sitting on mud anyway. Get your boots on, dig out all the mud in your footing until you hit dry dirt, then order a little more concrete if you want to do it right.

[colonial carpentry]

Thanks for the response,AS for the boots and the mud i appreciateyour suggestion ,i will be digging the mud out of the footers first thing in the morning so i can pass inspection, thanks again.

[colonial carpentry]

Well,I got the mud out ,passed the inspection,pouring tommorow at 11:00a.m. pumper truck is gonna run me about 600$ but i need to conserve my energy for block work and framing i think it will be worth the extra cost! thanks again.

[colonial carpentry]

I poured the footers today.I think the "Form-A-Drain" is a time saver! No stripping the forms, and my drains are built in. I did'nt need to buy form lumber so it is worth it for someone who is not in the business of forming footers.I just hope i'm not here posting leaking basement questions in a few years! The total pour for the footers was about 45 minutes with the concrete boom pump,it was actually a fun experience!

[Rich]

Right on.. well if something does go wrong I hope the forum is still here to help you in a few years :)

[mjpliv]

Rich - the eternal optomist! :roll:

[Rich]

LMAO.. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best :)