Basement Walls

Basement walls and design differ from other structural walls because in the basement inside of wall have living space and earth filling on the outside of wall i.e. why these are structurally designed as retaining walls to overcome the lateral pressure of outside filling of soil/earth.

Types of basement walls in construction according to the material use in the construction of wall:

• Brick wall,
• Cement Concrete Wall or RCC wall and,
• RCC wall abating the brick wall.

• Before designing the foundation of basement wall one should collect the design data required for designing the foundation of wall such as super structure load and characteristics of the ground. This will help to obtain economy in construction work and safety of structure.
• At the time of designing the basement foundation wall care should be taken to calculate the all the load which are to be bear by the foundation. The load bear by the foundation are the combined dead load, imposed load and wind load and these load are transmit by the foundation to the ground.
• The safe bearing capacity of the soil should be sufficient to bear the net loading intensity pressure coming on the soil or in other words the safe bearing capacity of soil should be more to the net loading intensity of pressure coming on it.
• The design of foundation should be done keeping in view minimizing the settlement on the base of foundation and it should be uniform under the whole of the building to keep away from any damage to the building /structure.
• During designing process safe bearing capacity of soil should be well studied and care should be taken that design the building accordingly as submerged soil and clay have less bearing capacity where as dry coarse and well graded dense sand have maximum bearing capacity and shear resistance which will give very economical and safe design for structure.
• In designing process the ratio of base coat i.e. foundation concrete should be 1:4:8   and brick masonry cement mortar should be 1:4 to 1:6 as loading condition.
• Where RCC structure is to be constructed than the ratio of concrete used as 1:2:4 or 1:1.5:3. 

Precautions during Construction of Basement Wall:

Precautions for Construction of Basement Wall:

• During rainy season excavation for ‘Basement’ wall should not be taken.
• At the time of construction of basement it should be ensured that there is no any damage to the adjoining structure.
• During the construction of basement, one should have arrangement of water pump, for pumping out of water either from rain or any leakage or breakage in pipe line.
• The depth of foundation should be at least 5 feet below the floor level of the basement.
• The walls of basement should be damp proof to prevent any seepage/dampness.
• The details of damp-proofing of basement walls are given in the article Water Proofing Treatment for Basement at the link given below:
  http://www.gharexpert.com/articles/Basement-1505/Water-Proofing-Treatment-Basement_0.aspx