The pit is a special recess that surrounds the basement window opening. The presence of such a design facilitates the penetration of light into the room and the removal of natural rainfall.
Immediately it is worth noting that the pit is a mandatory design if the window opening is located below 20 cm from the ground. Neglect of this requirement leads to a significant increase in the likelihood of basement flooding during spring snowmelt.
Appointment
A pit is a building element that restricts access to the part of the wall where the basement window is located. If this tool is available, the overall improvement of the basement is increased. In particular, the free penetration of natural daylight increases the comfort of finding residents in rooms under the building. Therefore, the pit is not only a protective structure, but also an element that contributes to the ease of operation of the object.
The form
According to the form, the pits are executed in the following options:
- Square.
- Rectangle.
- Trapezoid.
- Semicircle.
The shape of the pit must necessarily comply with building codes and building construction rules . Starting to design the facility, it is worth clarifying the moment with a specialist for future home improvement.
Pit device
Organization of the design for providing access to the window basement is carried out in stages:
- Work begins with the preparation of a small pit, the height of which should correspond to the parameters of the window. As for the length of the recess, it is desirable that it is approximately one and a half times larger than the basement opening.
- The depth of the pit is calculated taking into account the laying of the floor covering, which should be approximately 25-30 cm below the base of the window frame.
- Next, a drainage is organized. For these purposes, they most often resort to drilling a small well in the central part of the prepared foundation pit where the corrugated pipe is placed . Such drainage is discharged into the general drain or under the wall to the level of the location of the bedding.
- To equip the walls of the pit, wooden formwork is performed, which allows pouring a layer of concrete with a thickness of about 15-20 cm. After the cement has hardened, you can take care of laying the cladding in the form of a brick, natural or artificial stone, other materials that can withstand the effects of moisture.
Alternatively, you can use the installation of the finished structure. Today, factory molds for organizing pits are made of plastic, propylene, galvanized steel.
Eventually
As you can see, the arrangement of pits is an extremely important task when commissioning a building that has basements with basement window openings. Despite the presence of specific nuances in the preparation of the design, resorting to the above recommendations, even an unprepared master can cope with such work.