|
|
How to Build a Basement
|
|
Dry and without a pump.
|
With just this website, some advice from me by email, a little training on site, and supervision of their concrete pours, self-builders have built their basement and it never leaked.
Absolutely none of them have an internal drainage system.
And those who needed a structural warranty and a mortgage got them.
More than 100 over the past 20 years.
There is such a lot you might want to know, either now or in future.
Two menus are opened by clicking on either image to the right.
Please note. I don't go underneath anything already there.
|
My successful ways are more popular with self builders than developers and contractors.
-
Self builders want peace of mind.
-
Contractors want profit. Profit is income less cost, so they cut costs.
-
Developers want to cover over the mistakes and sell urgently to reduce borrowing at the bank.
Self-builders who have never done this before do it easily. Experienced labour think they know better and cut corners or make mistakes. Experienced labour need a lot more supervision to avoid repairs later.
The reason for the difference is, partly, because self-builders generally seek out and soak up information such as I provide here. But experienced labour do not enjoy reading. They never got beyond the sports pages. Perhaps they don't even read those now, but watch the sports on YouTube. They don't learn why and how to be mindful of the important details.
|
|
I will answer all your questions by email: viability, what works and what won't, explain and critique what others are telling you, look through your drawings and soil report, etc. for a fixed fee. Find out more here
|
|
The trouble with leaks is they cannot all be repaired once water is coming through to push off a repair before the repair hardens in place.
If you allow any leaks, you are probably always going to have leaks.
I am definitely slower than the experienced labour who 'smash it out', by about 20%. But I make that up and more by NOT having leaks, by NOT having internal drainage, by NOT finding bits are slightly out of place.
BY NOT SPENDING AS MUCH OF YOUR MONEY.
Overall, I might save you 70%, compared to a main contractor and internal drainage.
I would save a main contractor 40% compared to all the costs they expect. If they made sure I supervised their sub-contractor throughout. But they usually think they know better. And they wouldn't want their client expecting them to charge less.
Me, in Sussex, supervising a concrete pour. Most of my work is in the home counties.
|
|
I can cover the whole of England by email. But I only train and supervise in the South East of England (everywhere East of a line from Derby to Southampton)
excluding London if I cannot drive in easily, or park on site, or park close by outside.
Plus a little bit further along the M4.
I live in Essex.
|
|
On this project in Kent I managed full time a mix of experienced labour and youngsters while I needed them. When I didn't, two of us did it all.
My clients choose the timber based upon what they can best use in the house they build. That way, the formwork is very cheap. My way is simple.
This is me on the concrete pump.
Someone I trust following with my poker
and the same wall a year later with no other waterproofing against the concrete you see poured above.
You can see the slope in the top of the wall below, and the additional timber to create that sloping top in the photo above.
If you used either a hired-in formwork system or ICF you would find that sloping top difficult and prone to bursting.
I know I save a lot of money.
-
I get people working by knowing what they need to do, and avoiding their stopping to have frequent meetings to come to an agreement between themselves.
-
I get people working by showing them how, and I get them up to speed quickly.
-
I prevent errors, which means that those following on don't need to dip in to their contingency fund.
|
|
When this client sent me this photo, he was providing me with a reference for another prospective client, and this is some of what he said
|
|
"we are very proud of the work Phil did for us and how he pulled the project together. The finished result is outstanding.
Phil has extensive experience and all of the civil engineering people we had on our development held Phil and his experience in high regard.
Phil has a very direct manner and gets things done.
Phil always without questions works in your favour.
Phil will save you a lot of money.
As you can see, I can’t speak highly enough of Phil and the work he does. He made such a difference on our development and we have been delighted with the end product. Our development actually sits in water so we needed every confidence we would have NO leaks. I have taken a picture of it today and attached it here. You can’t see the underground elements too well as they are below the water line
I have another house build on our current site that involves concrete near water and Phil will be doing that job too - he does not know this yet but he does now."
|
|
This was the same basement viewed the other way when I returned to pour the concrete ground floor on the steel frame.
The client kindly sent me another photo showing the progress..
My successful ways are not secrets.
-
Care (experienced labour would require supervising).
-
Genuinely waterproof and leak-proof concrete and joints (which mainly requires care).
-
I must carefully study your architectural and structural engineer designs and remove causes of leaks (more care).
Care will save you a lot of money.
Refer your architect to my page for architects here, and your engineer to my page for engineers here,
There is a lot of nonsense out there about building a new basement.
The Building Regulations say that a basement structure (the floors, walls and roof) must protect the building and its occupants from harm. That would include mould following a flood. Floods are usually only after an internal drainage system failed because the contractor left leaks that let in mud that blocked the pumps (despite sticky-back membrane that someone tore but didn't repair).
If anyone tells you you need internal drainage, tell me. I will email them and explain why they are wrong.
A couple of recent changes you might need to learn about, because I still find inspectors, insurers, architects, and engineers aren't up to date.
-
The Grenfell Tower fire has caused a lot of changes. All effective from October 2023.
-
Building Safety Act 2022, which includes improving workmanship.
-
Legal requirements, such as the client is legally bound to only employ competent people.
-
Legal responsibilities. Such as only using suitable products.
-
Building control procedures. Building Control must file away evidence for use in court later.
-
Proving competence before work is allowed to start. Building control should prevent you continuing with incompetent people, and
-
Each contractor proving to the architect they did their work properly as their phase ends.
-
In 2022, the British Standard BS8102:2022 changed. Now, it champions my methods over internal drainage.
-
It says: fix all the leaks.
-
It says: Grade 3, habitable accommodation: No water ingress or damp areas is acceptable.
-
It says: an internal drainage system does not waterproof and is not a waterproofing defence (in a new-build project).
The Standard does not want you to let any water in.
The Standard does not approve of anyone selling internal drainage or sticky-back membrane being your architect's waterproofing specialist. Neither internal drainage nor sticky-back membrane should be on your drawings, because they are both known to fail.
From Part C of the Building Regulations "Site preparation and resistance to contaminants and moisture".
|
|
I wrote to Dame Judith Hackitt and received this response from DLUHC, explaining regulation C2 and the British Standard.
|
If your new domestic basement is a single or double storey structure built and proven not to leak at all, it is compliant with Building Regulation C2 and BS8102:2022, and you should not have to explain any other detail to anyone.
You should demand that your new basement structure is inspected after it is weatherproofed (roof and windows complete) cleaned and dried and after a period of heavy rain. Nothing should cover the basement structure, inside, before it is known not to leak.
As the letter says, if anyone wants you to depart from the Approved Document (BS8102:2022), they must "demonstrate that the Building Regulations requirements have been met by some other acceptable means."
I invite you to prepare yourself for some tough conversations with your architect, your building control body and your insurer about this, because they are all likely to want internal drainage, which is the very product that was demoted within the Standard because it covers over and hides bad workmanship by contractors, allowing leaks, allowing mud, allowing floods, and causing ill-health. Internal drainage causes the law to be broken.
You have me, this web site and all its evidence on your side to help you.
It is so important to prevent leaks because not all leaks can be repaired. Leaking concrete kickers cannot be repaired. Honeycombing cannot properly be repaired. Both of these leaks are structural defects as well. Hundreds of tie bar holes can be repaired but some will be missed. Cracking can continue for years if the structural engineer fails to address cracking fully - and many don't address cracking at all.
The best approach, by far, is to build without leaks and sufficient steel reinforcement to prevent cracks.
Your team starts with your architect. It includes your building inspector, and it includes your workforce - which might mean a main contractor and a sub-contractor.
My page about being your Waterproofing Specialist to BS 8102:2022 here.
You can click on the Menu Page buttons above (and at the bottom) to access all 63 pages.
You can read to the end of any page and click on the Next Page button.
Every basement build is different with its own special problems that only come to light as you do the work. Success requires experience. I am the experience you need without making a fortune out of you.
I live in Essex and I am happy to travel anywhere in the Home Counties, down to Southampton and North to Nottingham and Derby.
But I do not like going into London.
|
|
I am not registered for VAT
New dwellings can get all the VAT back from building costs but not from design, management or hire costs.
I will bill you personally for everything you get from me, free of VAT.
Please Note.
I don't give anyone credit.
|
Call me, Phil Sacre:
Email me:
This Home Page is where you find my menus to all the other pages.
Two menus.
The first menu is your basement planning questions answered. The second menu is your basement construction manual.
|
|
|
This section is discussing how you might build and which methods and products available I would tell you not to use.
The next section is how to self-build yourself.
|
|
|
|
This second menu is intended to be a complete build manual to build a new basement structure waterproof from the reinforced concrete alone.
|
Back to the Basement Building Questions Answered
|
Forward to the Basement Building Construction Manual
|
For a fixed fee of £199 I will answer all your questions by email. More details here.
|
|
|
Next Page
|
|
The Page After That
|
|
|
|
