First, let me say I agree with previous posters, dig up the backfill and throw that clay as far away from the house as you can get it. Repair any damaged areas of peel-n-stick, add platon, install 4" draintile, and backfill with clean wash rock to within a foot of finished grade.

Posted By BrianPK on 22 May 2011 10:02 PM
Finish Grade isn't done and there is gravel under the slab & footer. Building was not washed b4 peel & stick, although some kind of "primer" was used. I would have demanded other methods had I felt that there would be a problem. They backfilled with the red clay, not gravel. At this point I am into damage control. Do you think there is any salvation short of digging the thing up all the way to the footing. I don't think the contractor is going to jump at fixing this thing. He is backpedaling. I need to figure out what to do. Otherwise the job is good.

First of all I am in the Southeast where we do walkout basements.  I can remember doing only one full basement that was not a walkout.  It flooded many years later.  We did not know what caused the flooding until we dug out the old line and found that it was crushed just enough that it could not handle a heavy rain.  The easiest way to end up with a crushed line is to allow the backhoe to tamp the dirt in the trench by running the wheels in the trench.  Since the walls were solid concrete, only the carpet and pad had to be replaced.  So that taught me not to rely on only one line to grade.  Walkouts as opposed to non-walkouts usually lend themselves to having two lines to grade.

A vibrating plate type of tamper that you can rent will do a great job of compacting the gravel provided the lifts do not exceed 6 inches and the gravel is like clean #57 or #67.  Some code officials that have not seen gravel under a footer may not want to sign off on it.  Basically, we use the same type of gravel that goes with septic dispersal lines. 
 
Do understand that the gravel under the footer and later under the slab was tamped.  This tamped area also included the overcut area up to the banks.  Confined gravel will more likely stay tamped as opposed to un-confined gravel. 

most codes read "undisturbed or compacted"

Posted By BrianPK on 28 May 2011 11:50 AM
We had 2" of rain. With the gutters installed and the downspouts directed away from the house, one corner daylighted for foundation drainage we still have dampness creeping in. I believe the true solution is to dig out the three walls at the front & sides of the house, install dimpled membrane, backfill with clean stone. I do not believe that there is any other solution that will provide 100% security.

What is the consensis on my solution.

Posted By BrianPK on 28 May 2011 11:50 AM
We had 2" of rain. With the gutters installed and the downspouts directed away from the house, one corner daylighted for foundation drainage we still have dampness creeping in. I believe the true solution is to dig out the three walls at the front & sides of the house, install dimpled membrane, backfill with clean stone. I do not believe that there is any other solution that will provide 100% security.

What is the consensis on my solution.

Eric;

my thinking too, The original post was about water in the basement, now is diminished to dampness after 2" of rain?  Starting to sound a little petty.

Posted By smartwall on 31 May 2011 08:42 AM
Bottom line is the basement should not have water in it. I've seen this happen a couple of times. The only long term solution is to dig and install dimpled over the peel and stick. I don't know why people use peel and stick instead of dimpled. The stuff can be installed right after you're done filling the forms so there is no wasted time on the job. It's about as foolproof a product as you will find. It installs faster than anything else and it cost less than the peel and stick stuff