New (very old building) shop

[Lynn]

By September, things were looking pretty good. I used a 50+ pound tamper to pound in the ground over all of the trenches. I ran some conduit into the well so I could run an extension cord in there for the sump pump. As stated earlier, the sump pump is plumbed into the drainage system, so I wouldn’t need an external hose running across the floor. There is ALWAYS water coming out of the drain to the West of the building.

When I dug the last trench, and plumbed it into the other drainage pipe, I put a little floor drain in right where it all comes together. I went ahead and concreted around that floor drain. I am putting up a sign over it to indicate “no waste” as it drains to a waterway. You can see that 2x2 pad with the drain in one of the pictures below.

Sherri and I built a 6 foot by 6 foot frame around the well. The top of that frame is perfectly level, and the plan was to pour concrete right up to it. After the slab was poured, then I would take care of concreting around the well. I normally do my own concrete work, but a 45 x 25 slab was more than I am equipped to do. Sherri pleaded with me to hire it out, and I have to tell you, it didn’t take much convincing. Both of my shoulders are worn out. I have no cartilage in either one. Doing all this work with shoulder joints that are bone on bone is taking a toll. I still wasn’t willing to give up control of the work around the well. I did some research on man hole covers, and decided to treat it the same as if it were a giant man hole.

I contracted with a local firm. I talked to an acquaintance that owns the largest independent auto repair shop in the area. He had to relocate a few years ago because of new road construction. They took his old building by Eminent Domain. I looked at the floor in his new shop, and was impressed with the quality. So I hired the same guys he used.

I bought a roll of fabric underlay. This is the thick woven geotextile you see them placing under the gravel base on new interstate highways. I also bought a roll of 15 mil vapor barrier, along with the necessary tape to seal the joints in the vapor barrier. If we ever get 10 inches of rain again, I wanted the vapor barrier to force the water down into my drainage system, rather than have it wick up through the concrete .

I had them excavate (there wasn’t a LOT of dirt left to come out) to a uniform depth of 8 inches. Then they laid down the woven geo textile; then 3 inches of gravel. Compact the gravel. Then lay on the vapor barrier and seal every joint with tape. Finally, re-mesh, and pour concrete 5 inches thick. It was kind of a pain, but they did a good job. You can see a flap of the green vapor barrier sticking out from under that little 2 x 2 pad I poured around the drain. They had to join that part to the main part. They also had to extend the vapor barrier under my 6 x 6 frame. If you look closely, there are no external stakes on that frame. The closest stake is at least 4 inches inboard. I suspended the whole thing from the inside, so they could tuck enough of the vapor barrier underneath, and I could tape to it when I did the concrete inside. I did not want this system to fail. Even if the sump pump were to fail, there is a safety outlet for water to get into the drainage system before it gets to the top of the well.