Cleaning and Repairing ...my basement...

[GuntherHess]

I havent posted a good non-bottle related post for a while so here is my latest installment..
I need opinions from some of you bright people on ideas how to finish my basement floor.
I live in an 1790s or so stone house. The basement is currently dirt.
I have dug it out level and deep enough to make it a useable basement.
I would like to finish the floor in brick.
My question is how to best prepare the floor to do that.
Maybe put down gravel , crushed stone, sand, a layer of plastic??
Its a pretty large area with limited access so my first choice would not be pouring a slab.

Any thoughts on how to best do it would be appreciated.

 

[bostaurus]

Brick sound really nice and probably cheaper than trying a stone floor like slate. Do you have problems with drainage in your basement? would you need to install something to drain water to a sump pump?

 

[GuntherHess]

no drainage problems but it stays too damp with a dirt floor.

 

[andy volkerts]

[]Hello Matt. On the this old house show the yard and garden guy said using something called ( I think) stone dust although it looks like fine gravel over a layer of 6 or 8 mil plastic sheeting would work very good. seems as though this stuff packs hard as a rock with using just a little water after haveing it spread and tamped. You can also fill the joints between the bricks with it also.........Andy

 

[GuntherHess]

I think that is what they call crush run, crush and run, or crusher run depending on who you talk to. It does pack pretty good.
8 mil is some heavy stuff, I wonder if thats standard off the shelf?

I use a water level to level the floor. Ancient technology but works well.

 

[bostaurus]

I use a water level to level the floor. Ancient technology but works well.

How does that work?

 

[andy volkerts]

[]Matt. Our home depot carries the 6 mil stuff in rolls about ten feet wide and twenty feet long so it would take a few rolls overlapped to cover a large area, but worth it to keep out the damp. Ya also know some of the concrete contractors have these hose pumps that can pump up to about 100 feet or so without much trouble if you use a wet mix with smaller aggregate and about a five sack mix. prolly expensive I bet.....Andy

 

[GuntherHess]

How does that work?

its basically just a long clear tube that you put water in. the ends are open. the level of the water will always reach equalibrium at both ends of the tube. it allows you to compare the height of any two points. Mine has a photo sensor on the one end that beeps when the levels are equal.

everyone wants laser levels now but I like the simple approach, plus it works around corners.
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?keyword=water+level&selectedCatgry=SEARCH+ALL&langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

 

[GuntherHess]

pumping concrete starts getting expensive. PLus i'm trying for the olden look.

 

[bostaurus]

PLus i'm trying for the olden look.

Just through some straw down there and a couple pigs.
Friends in Germany bought an old house in the village to fix up. The basement of their house used to be the pig stye. They fixed it up very nice but I was never in there after a good rain. It might smell like pigs are still there after a good rain.