On Jun 20, 6:55*pm, Jay Pique wrote:
Just bought an 1890 two-story brick house with a stone foundation.
The basement is dirt right now, and I'd like to pour a concrete slab
down there. *There's sufficient ceiling height for a 4" slab without
excavating, which I'd definitely prefer not to do. *Do I need a vapor
barrier? *Can I just pour right over the dirt? *I'm just starting to
do my research, so any thoughts or info would be appreciated.

JP

JP

Before you pour, or have poured, your new floor consider installing an
interior ground ring for your electrical system. While you are
putting in your drainage system you dig the trench around the
periphery a foot deeper and put a bare number two copper conductor
around the edge. You make sure that it is long enough to come up out
of the pour through a nonmetallic conduit at the point immediately
beneath the service disconnecting means / customer service unit of
your electrical system. It needs to be long enough to go all the way
to the neutral buss bar of the service equipment. Were the end
overlaps the tail to the service equipment you install a split bolt
connector to bond the two runs of the ground ring to itself. You then
back fill the trench to the installation depth of your drainage
piping. Connect that ground ring to the same buss bar were the
neutral conductor from the utility's transformer is terminated. This
will provide your electrical system with a far better grounding
electrode system than anything else you are likely to have on the site
unless you are served by an entirely metallic underground water
utility supply that is free of plastic pipe or exterior coatings.
Such a grounding electrode system will make your homes electrical
system much more resistant to surge and spike damage. It is
especially worth doing if your electrical system has only driven rod
electrodes. If you install a surge arrester a good earth ground will
make it much more effective. It will never be as easy to install a
good grounding electrode system as it is during this work. It's your
home so it may be worth doing it right while it is easy to do.
--
Tom Horne, Electrician