Here is the drilling jig for tops of the columns. Should make a bit more sense now. But a new problem did come up. Remember originally the plan was 8" thick concrete walls? After gunite I would have been able to pour on top of them to take up the space around the movable deck. Well, that doesn't exist anymore and take a guess who's hole is now cut too big?? So I will have to take up the gap with 1/4" plate. To keep from driving over an 8inch span, I can now shift the lift closer to the door and cut down on the insane steel work. The far end can't possibly see car tires, so it won't be so intense. Where there is a will, there is a way! The jig is welded and when placed gives me the right height for 1/4" steel plate.
97" down and look what I find! Something tells me either this is about to get interesting or this could be GAME OVER! I need 100" to the bottom of the concrete floor and another 18" for the existing footer design. Gonna need some smart minds people! Let's hear 'em!
Looks like you found the water table! Might end up with a concrete bottom with a sump pump. Do a bit of French drain action on the perimeter and pump it out. You have extra "diameter" outside the footings. So that shouldn't be a big deal. Think of it as a basement in the midwest. Might need a short 2-4' wall at the bottom to keep the High water level outside the bottom of the pit.
Oh boy, water. First thing you have to do is put in a plastic sump tank to get rid of the water as you continue the build. The top of the tank should be at the finished concrete grade. Plumb it up to the sewer line. The PSC won't like it, but... Line the bottom of the hole with Typar that goes to the outside top of the footing. Six inches of #2 river gravel with a couple full length 3" perforated drain lines that go to the sump. Cover the gravel with plastic sheeting and it extends a foot above and outside of the footing or at least a foot above the water line.
I'm reminded of something an old builder once said to me, " A farmer digs a hole in a field, calls it a pond and expects it to fill with water, a builder digs a hole in the same field, calls it a basement and expects it to stay dry."
I don't know if I would be too concerned just yet. The rate of water migration through that ( appears to be heavy clay soil) is extremely slow. What you are going to need to do is move to one corner and punch down another 2-3 feet or so, then wait to see if it fills up with water. Then pump it out. It could take months for the water to migrate through and get out of the ground....
lol.. Good thing it's not oil actually, in my city, you don't get mineral rights when you buy a house. I really didn't expect to hit ground water that's for sure and I'm not positive I want to get into a permanent dewatering situation. I'll drop down in a couple more areas and try to see whats going on. Bonz and Bruce have the most common solution that does work well. Short knee walls would protect if water begins to rise. My engineer is talking about driving I beams, lucky me.
Dropped down another 2feet and parked a sump pump in the hole. I'm recording the timing of the cycles, but I will say right now this thing is running once every 1hr and 2mins. At which time it runs for 1min 24seconds and shuts off. I haven't measured yet what it's dumping, but I'm guessing 10-20gallons maybe?? I've got a cheapy wireless camera watching this thing. I can see when it starts and stops with the time stamp. The tether float thing sucks, but it is working very accurately according to my times.
You'll need a check valve in the line right above the pump. Use Fernco rubber boots because the pump and check valves won't last forever.
I got one of those check vales from. HD and screwed it to the outlet. From there it's 10ft up the 3/4" pipe to a garden hose.
Time to punch another hole away from the sump pump hole until you hit water. This will be a gauge to see how far you have pulled down the water In the ground...
It's been 25 degrees here for the last few days and the lift in the driveway had almost 1/2" of ice on it. We had a heatwave today of 40 and after the warm rain last night. All the ice is gone. On tuesday night, I saw on the live cam the pump stayed running for about 4mins so I went and looked and sure enough the hose froze. So I quit pumping. The water level rose up to where it had been staying and hasn't gone any higher. SO, I think tomorrow, I will resume digging and pumping. I'm this deep now and it won't make much difference if I have to bring in a few more yards if I have to surrender this fight. I REALLY need this crazy adventure to work out.
No digging happened today, but had a good think. So I watch some jackass on youtube drop a water well next to his house with 10ft of 4" pipe and a dremel that set me to thinking.... I pulled the plug on my yard sprinkler system about 7years ago. My monthly water bills were over $300 a month and all I was doing was watering my weeds. I do need to do some serious soil work as my top soil is long gone and the bermuda is only happy growing in all the wrong places. Here I am sitting with more free water than I want just not in the right place. Now I have a friend here with an underground watering system in his yard and while his neighbors grass is brown and dead, his was lush green in the middle of summer. His water bill was a 1/3rd of mine. This tells me sprinkler systems suck compared to what he has. So.... What would happen if I drop a 1000gal tank out back, treat my car parking like a water well to feed said tank, rip up the yard and go with under ground drip irrigation? Dumb idea? What's the worse that could happen; my well runs dry which would solve water in my hole??? Then I'm left with a 1000gal tank to hook up to gutters to water the grass on a drip system?
Sounds like more digging and more grass-cutting Jason. I'd figure out where to put the little peeing statue/fountain at the end of the sump line and call it good. Our grass goes dormant here in the summer and I see it as extra free time. Some days I wouldn't mind about 3-4 feet wide around the house to be lush and green so I can walk around barefoot.
LMAO. How true is that! My little dog is happy peeing on a 50sq ft patch of decent grass I've maintained out back. What more does he need? lol