Will foundation wall be strong enough surrounded by gravel?

A
Antonia Bellini

In silt soil, for drainage I plan to put clean gravel next to the cement foundation walls which will go 4 feet into the ground in a trench and extend 2 feet above the ground, with the house floor above that; so the gravel would go the length of the wall, with a drain pipe at the bottom next to the bottom footing in the gravel on exterior side.

Would that be stable enough for the wall though, or does it need to be more compact? I was going to also replace about top 6 inches to a foot of the dirt on the floor of the ground-level crawl space with gravel as well, and that would be vented in there on all sides. I am thinking a vapour impermeable membrane over the floor would not allow moisture to escape, evaporate or drain. I was only planning asphaltic dampproofing on the foundation walls. Does this sound like a good plan?

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