Weep holes in footer, do you need a sump pump 1

I'm having a new home built. The basement is a walk out. The front and one side of the foundation will be backfilled to within 2 feet of the top of the foundation. The other side and the back will taper to a walkout. The lot will handle daylighting the exterior drain tile. The builder has placed 1 1/2" pvc every 8' in the footer. This will allow water to pass from outside the footer to inside under the slab. The builder has indicated that NO sump pump will be installed.

Will this be a problem in the future?

What is the code when weep holes are placed in the footer?

Is this a common practice?

Thanks,
Rodney

 

[ishvaaag]

Where I live and worked (in Spain) weep holes are common in visible retaining walls but no towards under the indwelt area. In fact I have never seen this arrangement here put unto practice. I am assuming you are talking of no habitable cellar. If habitable, then this kind of thing maybe would be used to channel the water to some sump pump. The only case in which something similar I have seen was one case where the gravels under a 1st underground level parking lot besides a river was left connected to a sump pump, single instance in over 400000 m2 built.

Respect what effects it can cause, varies with what kind of supporting ground you have. If you stand in sound gravel plus sands unlikely to be washed by changes in watertables, the effect will be from moderate to nil.

Contrarily if the soil is clayey and of the kind that heaves with changes in water contents, you may be adding one source of water that has some potential to unleash the effects. These crounds are rare, and normally weep holes could be ineffective due to the clayey nature. In any case I think for these cases a good separate but sealed pavement would be a better solution than attempting some equalization of the water contents outside and inside, for I think is better to the interest of the building that the water contents of the soil under your building be constant, this leading to stability and absence of movement in your building, this at least versus the I assume intended of the soil under your building follow any stational variations in water in the surrounding soil. The weep holes may of course diminish very much the pressures against the wall, since the water content is inmediately drained; and surely this has been the main iontelligence of the building, and the practice originate in the sleeper foundations being only proper for bearing vertically the walls, and in no way or very scarcely the earth push of the retained earth.

 

ishvaaag,

Thanks for your reply.

In answer to your question, this will be a fully habitable basement.

Best Regards,
Rodney

 

[Qshake]

I've not seen this done before, but that is just my experience.

In most cases, the pvc is installed in the wall not the footing. Footings in residential construction are best characterized as a "level pads" and, as such, are not very large in plan nor in height. You could be in for some additional cracking if the pvc is placed in the shallow footing. If done properly, the pvc could be placed in the wall yet be lower than the slab. Also, I would rethink the pvc at all if there is a sump installed.

Regarding the sump, if you've had to have flood insurance and that is required information, then I would consider having a sump placed. Better now than later...

Overall, I would check with the FEMA flood data (see your realtor or insurance company) and check out the hazard in your area. Determine the highwater elevation and note what elevation your slab is. Also, talk with neighbors about flooding.

Good Luck

 

[JAE]

This doesn't sound right to me, either. Yes, you want to relieve the lateral soil pressure by removing water from the soil adjacent to the wall. But why bring it into your basement? Why not just install a lateral, perforated PVC flex pipe in some gravel and run it around the three buried sides of the house...daylighting as you mentioned?

Even if you're clear of flooding (per Qshake) you could still have local conditions under heavy rainfall that would direct more water into the underslab than can be absorbed by the material below. Does your builder know what the material is below your slab for 4-6 feet deep? I doubt it.

 

Yes, the builder is going to install lateral, perforated PVC flex pipe in some gravel and run it around the exterior sides of the home.

I don't think the builder knows what type of dirt is 4' to 6' below slab level.

Does anyone have BOCA code or any other Standard for Residential construction for footers with weep holes.

Thanks,
Rodney

 

[ishvaaag]

In any case to bring the water under the house is to invite the soil under it to follow the stational cycle of water...and in concentrated and maybe washing manner. So the advice above of warning off waters is sounder, and consistent with keeping the water contents under your soil as stable as possible, instead of causing it to follow a number of stational cycles.