kriev krievin

I'm going to essentsially "screed" the clay as smooth as possible before building up the pad for the foundation so any water freely flows into the trough i've dug.

now... Having my sauna in the middle of a slight slope, I do expect some water to sneak under my foundation. I want to make sure this water will drain out. So I will slope my clay subpad so that water runs down the slope underneath my stonepad and slab into a perforated drain pipe. Thus draining away any foreseeable trouble.

I'm building a cordwood sauna (ala Rob Roy). In removing the topsoil, the ground i've exposed to build on is poor-draining clay. The surrounding grade in my building area is quite flat only slightly sloping in the northward direction. I'm thinking that I will fill clay into the area that I have exposed, creating a claypad on which to build a well-percolating sandpad. The claypad will be level with the topsoil around the excavated site. This will give me some elevation to install a drainage system that includes perforated drainpipe laid into the claypad from which the sauna's slab may also drain. Im hoping this will prevent any heaving in the future. The only concern with this is: will the sand pad between clay and the floating slab erode away over time? Do I need to dig into the clay to make a "bowl" to hold the sand pad in place?

I know you permies are smart!

,Kriev