I thought some of you might also find this interesting. Here's another pic of the waterproofing with the Drain & Dry board installed on top of the Geo-Mat Plus (aka dimpled membrane) on top of the Mar-Flex spray on membrane..... Whew, that's a mouth full. There is one piece of the drain and dry that the concrete guys nocked off, but it's easy enough to put back.
I had several issues with the installation that we've worked out bit by bit. First, I was concerned about how the top edge of the drainage mat will be below grade. I've talked to the manufacturer, and he assured me that once backfilled, the dirt will force the mat against the membrane enough to form a seal. He said this fits with their recommended installation techniques. And truthfully, for a brick house, there really isn't an alternative. So, that's how it will stay.
Next, the waterproofers originally ran the Geo-Mat Plus and Drain & Dry up past the edge of the brick ledge. That's wrong, so they are going to come back and trim it up.
Next, If you look at the bottom of the wall, you can barely see the top edge of the drain tile. It's an engineered product called DrainAway that's quite a bit different than the usual drain pipe you see down there. We're going to clear off the dirt and replace it with gravel. The manufacturer says the dirt is fine, but not preferred. My contractor says they always use just dirt, and have never had a problem. But why risk it.
Next, that drain tile has special corner connectors that are used for 90 degree corners that the waterproofers didn't use. I spoke with the manufacturer about this as well, and they said that while they prefer the connectors, they don't see any warranty claims resulting from an installation like this (no connectors), and the connectors are not required to maintain the warranty. So, I suspect we'll leave it as is.
As a side note, when I was researching this stuff, I was told by one of the reps that just using a fiber type drainage board (like the Drain & Dry) would not hold up as well as the dimpled membrane. He said that over time, the fiber board would compress and lose some of its drainage ability. Hence the use of both the Geo-Mat Plus and the Drain & Dry together. This system is supposed to have a 30 year warranty I believe.
At any rate, I thought someone else going down this road might find this information useful. So I posted it up the novel you see here
so we had to add a few. However, we made sure to plan them so they would have multiple uses. The nursery will be converted to a study as I work from home quite a bit, the upstairs rooms will be converted to a workout room, etc. etc. I can't imagine NOT going the custom path, now.
If you look at my step downs adjacent to the front row seating, mine are not "notched" into the riser as you've shown. I think there are a few benefits. First, the notched in approach creates an awkward corner that people could trip up on. Second, it takes up space on the riser (in an isle so to speak) that is already sacrificed next to the chairs of the front row. Does that make any sense? or even seem like an advantage?
