Inspector versus manufacturer?
How are things usually worked out when the manufacturer recommends one particular installation method, and the inspector wants it installed a different way? Being a Saturday, my contractor and I can’t get this properly resolved until Monday. But I’m curious on how this is usually handled.
The inspector told me to have our foundation drain pipe installed up against the side of the footing (with 2-3″ of gravel under it), with the rest of the width of the drainage trench filled with gravel.
The manufacturer recommends a 3″ space between the drain and footing, with gravel filled under and on both sides of the drain pipe.
It makes sense to me to have gravel all around the pipe, in part to provide even support. But nearly all the drawings I’ve seen for foundation drains shows the pipe up against the footing instead.
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Replies
Debra,
The short answer is it make no appreciable difference. I'd install it as the inspector requested.
Thanks, Malcolm. That was my preference, but the contractor disagreed.
Probably because he totally failed to follow manufacturer installation instructions when putting in two large drain pipes under the driveway, which consequently became crushed. I'm making him remove them, and I insisted all drain lines be installed properly.
Yeah that wouldn't exactly inspire confidence. Isn't building fun?
I can't wait for the portion of the build when I take over doing the construction myself. I'm sooo tired of double-checking everything this contractor does and making him correct things. I've yet to go a whole week without discovering a big issue - like a sleeve for the drainage pipe under the footing actually sloping strongly TOWARDS the crawl space! Or the footings 4" off square. Or a trench dug in the wrong location inside my tree protection zone. Or... (Sigh...) Another month to go....
"Or the footings 4" off square."
This guy is a poor excuse for a contractor.
Tell me about it! Even I know how to check the diagonals for square.
And we only had 2" to spare between the house and the lot setback, so my surveyor had to spend time figuring out how to make the footings still work with the house plan (which he eventually fortunately did - billed to the contractor, thank goodness).