You have your plans ready and building permit in hand - you are ready for an excavation crew to dig your basement! Our excavation team will review home foundation plans prior to arriving on site to ensure that all of the foundation and site details are planned for and taken care of. Once our team arrives on site, we can install a tracking mat, stone driveway, culvert (if necessary), and silt fence. We will also strip the topsoil from your building foundation pad and start excavation. During the excavation, our layout team will be on call and ready to stake the foundation excavation to prepare for the footing crew.

After the excavation for your home foundation is complete, our crews can install concrete footings. The layout team often times works with the excavation team and uses our Topcon Robotic Total Station to stake the foundation corners.   The Wisconsin Building Code requires that all basement footings have permanent drainage and drainage stone installed. Our residential footing crews use Prinsco Proform which is an alternative to the widely used Certainteed Form-A-Drain. Proform is a permanently installed system used to form footings, drain foundations, and vent radon. Here at Kurk, Inc. we believe in providing the best product to all of our customers, which is why we made the switch from Form-A-Drain to Proform HD. Proform HD is a new and improved dual-wall corrugated HDPE system. The dual wall design adds strength, without sacrificing the durability benefits of HDPE making the Proform more impact resistant that other competitor products. This means less cracks and repairs in your basement foundation waterproofing system. After your footings are framed, we install the drainage stone and basement subfloor stone. The stone is installed using our Putzmeister Conveyor. After the stone is installed, this truck stays on site to convey and place concrete in the footing forms.

The process of concrete foundation walls starts before your foundation is even excavated! In our office, we use top of the line CAD software to draw and detail your foundation. We double check dimensions, elevations, and all details, such as brickledges, door openings, and beam pockets, before our crews even set a form for your foundation. This CAD software produces a list of aluminum forms that will be needed for your foundation. We prepare this list and deliver the correct forms for each foundation to the job using one of our knuckle cranes. Once footings are poured and stripped, we can layout the foundation wall corners and deliver forms. Our crews will begin framing your foundation walls and installing the rebar to reinforce your concrete walls. The Wisconsin Building Code requires #3 rebar (3/8" diameter) for to prevent shrinkage in concrete walls. At Kurk, Inc., our typical 8'-0" residential foundation wall contains a #4 rebar (1/2" diameter) at the top and bottom of your basement wall and a vertical #4 bar installed every 48". Once the foundation crew has framed, squared, and detail the foundation walls, we can order concrete and pour! When it's time to pour, we partner with local concrete ready mix producers to provide the concrete for the job. We have developed relationships with ready mix suppliers and discuss the details of each pour with them to verify the provide the best concrete mix for your foundation and the weather conditions. Residential foundations are poured using Kurk, Inc.'s own concrete pump.

Once your foundation has been poured and developed sufficient strength, our foundation crews will strip and remove the aluminum forms. Although it may not seem like it, after stripping the concrete forms, there is still a lot of work to be completed to provide each homeowner with a quality foundation. Control joints are cut into foundation walls to help control concrete cracking. Each control joint is waterproofed and sealed. This is completed the same day as the forms are removed. The Wisconsin Building Code does not require residential foundation to be waterproofed, however we believe that waterproofing works with the foundation drainage system to protect the investment of your home. Our fluid applied bituminous waterproofing keeps out both moisture and liquid water. This membrane can be sprayed directly on your foundation walls after the forms have been stripped. To learn more about waterproofing, visit the Concrete Network. After waterproofing has been applied, we can install rigid insulation. The insulation also acts as a protective barrier, making sure the waterproofing is not damaged during the backfill process. During this time, we will also install any window wells that are necessary. All egress window wells have a standpipe installed, which drains the window well directly to the Proform foundation drainage system. To complete the foundation drainage system, a minimum of 12" of clear stone is installed at the exterior perimeter of your basement (over the Proform drainage system).

After our foundation crews complete their work and the restone has been completed, we can call the building inspector who will inspect the foundation and verify it meets the requirements to backfill. The building inspector is looking for a few things during this backfill inspection including: Is there a minimum of 12" drainage stone installed? Has the foundation insulation been installed correctly per the heat calculations? Is the interior foundation drainage system free of defects? Once the building inspector gives us the okay and the foundation has gained enough strength, our excavation crews can begin backfill. The interior of the garage and any walkout foundation areas will be backfilled with stone to support the future garage and basement slab. After the foundation is backfilled, the excavation team will rough grade the property. Proper rough grading includes grading the site to away from the foundation for drainage and makes sure the next construction crew can access the foundation.

Depending on your construction schedule, our team will prepare and install your new home slabs the rough carpentry is completed, the home is water tight (shingles and windows installed), and any basement underground plumbing has been installed and inspected.   Most of the flatwork stone base was installed during the foundation and backfill process. (Remember we used the conveyor to install the drainage stone and the basement flatwork stone before pouring footings and installed the garage and any stoop or patio base stone during the backfill process.) When they arrive on site, our flatwork crews will fine grade the basement slab and install the vapor barrier. The vapor barrier below the slab works with the entire foundation drainage system to keep your basement moisture free. During this same time, we will fine grade the garage slab and frame any door openings and stoop slabs.   The flatwork crew will usually order concrete and pour the basement floor and garage floor at the same time. All of our basement slabs are hard trowel finished with a finish machine. Before our crews can use the finish machine, the concrete slab must set up and gain a little bit of strength. During this time, our crews will pour the garage, finish framing any stoops, and order concrete for stoops and patios. All of our stoops and patios are broom finished.   After the slab is finished, the flatwork crew will cleanup, strip any forms, and saw cut all slabs. The saw cut controls joints are necessary to help control concrete cracking. The area and spacing of saw cutting and the depth of the saw cut depend on each slab. Concrete saw cut timing is very important and depends on several factors such as hardness, blade type, weather condition, and concrete mix design. If you start saw cutting concrete to early, you might be causing raveling, while sawing too late will result in uncontrolled cracking.