Footing Drains for the Little Pre-fab Cabin

Taylor showed up Friday and dropped off a load of gravel. He says it’s to put in the foundation drains.

Foundation drains or footing drains are put in just outside the foundation walls to drain water away so it won’t seep into the foundation.

Ours is made with a corrugated pipe or tube that has holes to let the water in wrapped in a fabric sock to keep it from clogging with dirt. Then it is covered by gravel and a layer of landscape fabric.

The next morning workers showed up with rolls of landscape fabric and these pipes.

It looks like the tubes they ran underground for our gutters, but covered in a fabric sock.

The workers wrestled the tube into the trench. They put it on top of the footers.

They poured gravel on top of the drain pipe.

They filled the whole trench with gravel.

The gravel went almost to the top of the trench, nearly up to what will be the height of the land when we are finished.

Then they raked the gravel level.

They put the landscape fabric over the gravel.

They rolled out the landscape fabric and held it down with dirt.

They came back and pulled the fabric out to cover the gravel.

They shoveled just enough dirt over the fabric to hold it down. They can’t cover it up until the inspector sees it.

The footer drain, before it is covered. Once it’s inspected, the landscape fabric keeps the dirt that is back filled from filling in between the gravel so any water will drain away from the foundation.

Another view of the fabric over the gravel that is over the tube that is in the fabric sock.

We called for the foundation inspection and we passed.

The cabin is from Westwood Cabins. You can see more photos and floor plans at www.westwoodcabins.com and www.facebook.com/westwoodcabins.

The work is done by Fowler Excavating. Taylor Fowler has managed all of the subcontractors.