I couldnt figure out a better forum for this so I figured that the General forum may be the best place.
I am getting ready to landscape the front of my house. This will entail building up a planting bed along the front of the house and adding srubs/plants/etc to it. The bed will likely be about 1-2 feet deep (additional from grade) and will cover all 4 of the “weep” holes in the bottom of my brick. I have never seen any water come out of the holes but I still worry about blocking them with the new topsoil and worse, worry about water migrating into the holes and into the air space behind the brick.
What, if anything should I do to fix this prior to landscaping. Proper pitch and all that will be maintained on the grade away from the house and the down spouts already dump out aprox 4 feet from the foundation.
Two thoughts that I had were 1) running plastic up the side of the wall tp cover the weeps so that dirt and water dont get into the wall. I also looked at some of the commercially available covers that are used for this, but still worry about water getting in from the outside.
2) running pee gravel and plastic drain pipe along the weeps and running it to daylight.
Do I even need to do this or worry about this. My wife is on my BUTT about getting started and I just thought about this (probably so I dont have to work in the rain!)
Any help/suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks
J-
Replies
Are you going to cover up 2' of brick on the front of you house with these planter boxes? Is that right? I'm not sure I got that right.
The boxes are two feet high and will attach to the house efectively covering up 2' of brick on the house.
No I'm not using planter boxes. Basically we are going to outline a large planting bed with misc rocks and boulders and then fill in the area that is outlined with topsoil, plant shruds etc and then mulch. I am guessing that the bed will be between 6inch and 1-2 feet deep depending on the grade and location on the front of the house. The weep holes range from a height of at grade to about 6inches above grade currently.
Hopefully I explained it better this time. Can I post pics in the forum, maybe I will take a pic of similar landscaping in our neighborhood and post it for a reference.
Thanks
J-
Got termites? You will!SamT
Praise the Corporation, for the Corporations' highest concern is the well being of the public.
never mind the weep holes, DO NOT PLACE ANY SOIL AGAINST THE BRICK.The moisture in the soil will migrate through the brick and give a nice moist haven to termites and general rot.
TFB (Bill)
I worked with a landscaper for a while. He installed a lot of the interlocking block walls you see around. He went right from the book on installation. If the manufacturer said 12" of compacted gravel under the wall he did 12" compacted gravel.
Whenever we put up a wall with any potential drainage problems he would put perforated pipe at the bottom to daylight with filter cloth over it.
He didn't take any chances. I guess you have to figure for a heavy downpour right after your wife watered the bed heavily would be worst case scenario. The bed can pick up a lot of rain over it's surface area. The drainage needs to be able to handle that.
Part of the equation would be how well your soil can absorb some water. Some soil types just don't absorb water well.
Have you used filter cloth?
The only way I'd consider doing it would be with some sort of a wall a couple inches out from the brick, completely eliminating any contact with the brick, and provision for air to circulate behind.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
OK thanks for the replies guys. I dont have termites and while they are not a big problem in Michigan I dont want to be the exception to the rule. Looks like it is back to the drawing board.
After re-looking at the wall it would only be about 6 inches of topsoil, not 2 feet ( I must have been sleepy this moring when I posted orginally). Is I were run plastic up the wall for that 6 inches to keep the soil off of the brick and fashion up someway to keep the weep holes open and free, could that work. I dread telling my wife that this is not going to work for fear of where her boot will get lodged, LOL
Thanks
J-
You really need to make sure that there's no soil or standing water in contact with the wall for at least 6" below the bottom of the brick. Not sure how one can do this effectively, but simply placing plastic against the wall would be questionable.And keep in mind that you may be creating a highway for ants.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
copy thanks dan, i guess I should dig down and see how far my brick goes under the grade as the builder graded up over the brick ie; brick runs below grade on all 4 sides of my house.
J-
>>>>>>>brick runs below grade on all 4 sides of my house.But, hopefully it's veneer on a brick seat in the foundation wall. The grade needs to be below the weep holes which should be below the sill plate. Determine where the sill plate is and keep the grade below it.http://grantlogan.net/
Yeah, you need to figure out where the sill is, and stay at least 6" below that. If there's somewhere where the contractor graded above the sill then you should forget about the planter and work on that problem.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
OK got ya. Yeah the brick is set on a ledge on the foundation wall. The foundation wall exetends about 1 foot above grade (best I can tell from inside my basement) and I know that there is atleast a 2 inch gap btween the framing and the back of the bricks. Anyone have any other landscaping ideas, LOL.
J-
DO NOT COVER UP WEEP HOLES!
Don't!!
I would think running a delta membrane up the side of the house before filling the bed with soil would be sufficient. It would still allow a degree of airflow and drainage if it were ever required.
Dave
I'm no expert. but I would never, ever, do anything like that. not only do the weep holes need to be open but almost as important is that the surface area is allowed to breath. Nothing should be put on this.
Put it this way. The earth and all the creepy crawly things in it are desperately trying to reclaim your house. Do you really want to give them a leg up?
Do you know what delta membrane is?
http://www.deltams.com/
..........DELTA¯-MS is a highly effective foundation waterproofing system, based on a uniquely formed air-gap membrane.
No I don't. Maybe I'm just old school here. But on some issues I like clear boundies. This just sounds like trouble to me. But that's just my way of looking at it.