Restoring A $7,000 Mansion: Pouring A New Concrete Foundation

As a retired teacher of 43 years- I can say that if farming ever doesn't work out, you would make a fantastic high school teacher! Your energy and simplicity in explaining subjects would make you fun in the classroom.

Option number 5 is to extend your Gutters and make sure your grade falls away from the house

You need large gutters, and then you need to feed the water from the downspouts 10+ feet from the house and you will reduce your water by a large amount as well. My 100+ year old basement has been dry for 5 years by doing this.

The rebar from these holes is gonna make digging the next set of holes even more of an adventure.

With a small excavator, dig outside and make trench. Paint roofing tar on outside of cement to make waterproof. Add drin pipe and drain rock with an outside sump pump if there is no slope. 2 day job. Sons business does this every day of the week.

Three tough,strong hard working men.

Cole, if I were you, I'd excavate the entire outside perimeter and first seal the outside walls. Then pour the footer from the outside in sections. Install the perforated drain pipe at the outside wall perimeter and route it to a pit inside for the pump. I had to do this (minus the footer pour) 34 years ago to a house in Kansas. From your pictures, it appears that the ground slopes away towards the road (at least on that side). I'm not seeing gutters on the house .... and wondering how much of the water problem is due to not routing it away.

You guys work so hard. Hats off to all men who work like this to provide for their families. Massive respect.

Hey coal as a master plumber you may go with a French drain around the outside of your house we may give you a better tight situation on taking the water away from the basement the one thing you will need to do is set that pie in gravel so the water will have a way to sleep up I saw before that you're going to sit piers Pole pylons underneath your foundations great idea lot of work I'm not too sure about your putting the drain underneath the foundation of the basement I think you'll be better with a French drain outside and depends on what kind of soil do have All I can say is you're doing a fantastic job in best of luck on what you said to do my opinion of French drain on the outside would be cheaper and more efficient but that's just my opinion you know what's best for your house it is a beautiful home and those kids oh my God and you could have picked a better wife

Cole, if you use a concrete truck for your basement, please make sure you ask for the company to give you the concrete delivery ticket to prove they used the right additives to yield the mandated psi strength. SAVE THE TICKET in your important papers for decades. It is your only warranty.

This is actually pretty fascinating. More people have to deal with these foundation issues than you’d think! I think it’s going to work and you will not regret doing it.

I had to laugh at Roman's enthusiasm at digging holes. Funny guy. Great to see Justin smiling. Cole...is this drain you are putting in the same thing as a French drain?

Rent a 1 inch air compressor with a 30 pound hammer with a 6 inch or bigger air spade to make digging under the footer as easy as dipping ice cream.

I'm happy to see the 3 of you "cement" your relationship with each other. 😂😁😅

This project is the definition of working HARDER, and NOT smarter....

First time ive seen it done from the inside. With Ron Im shocked you didn't go with trenching around the outside giving the ability to seal the wall itself before backfilling

I can't get over how good your front yard looks, nice!

no gutters is your problem, the old house had them, and the stain on the floor isn't 100 years old, so start there.

Cole, gotta say, I appreciate your enthusiasm. May you never lose that spark.

By putting the pipe beside the footing under the concrete slab, the water will still come in between the wall and footing right on top of the floor if it level with top of the footing. To stop the water from coming into the basement you will have to dig around the outside of the basement walls down to the top of the footing, wide enough out to work in that space. Now, knowing there is no footing, it needs to be put in first of course which you're doing a good job of, but you can't waterproof the basement correctly from the inside. Once you dig down all the way around the basement walls, which means where the porches are too, because it has to be a continuous four inch perforated pipe, what Cole calls tile, put in around the walls on top of the footing. The walls need to be cleaned of all the dirt, then coated with a rubberized waterproofing coating that is applied like paint, from the footing up to where the surface of the ground will be against the house. Then a waterproof membrane needs to go over that. It comes as fabric and plastic sheets that are attached to the wall. Then you put in the pipe, or tile, which must be daylighted out somewhere so the water can drain out of it. Over the pipe you need at least two or three feet of clean ¾" washed stone that is covered with a fabric that lets water through but stops dirt getting through. Then you can fill in the rest of the way back up with the dirt you removed. That is the proper way to waterproof a basement. This will involve removing the wrap around porch to be done correctly and to work. That being said, you can make a drain in the floor on the inside if you want to go the easy incorret way. That is not a waterproof basement though, and is just taking care of the water that gets in, just like any other solution that doesn't involve doing the outside of the walls like I described already. I've only waterproofed around 100 new basments before back filling around them, but what do I know. You need a radon detector to make sure the air is ok in the basement if y'all are getting headaches from bending over in the holes. If its just you getting a headache then you're just a wuss. The way you're having to do the footing is crazy but I don't see another way. Just pour a dry bag of concrete in the water in the hole before you put the other mixed concrete in.