Our Universal Cottage Build Near Homer, Alaska

[jennatorres84]

Wow so much good advice to consider!  Thank you!  I do agree with the fact that locals could have an agenda, so I've talked to quite a few people who have experience with different foundation systems just to get their opinions.  We met a friend (who's a contractor currently building his own house nearby) out at the property last night and showed him where we intend to build, and he believes that the post & pier foundation will work well as long as we make sure the contractor we hire gets well below the frost line and large footings are used.  He said it would be wise to get down to 6 feet.  48" to the frost line I believe.  The neighbor across the roadway, maybe 600 feet away, built a house on sonotubes 10 years ago and it is still doing fine.

No hill behind us.  Our property is at the top of a large hill.  The building site is very lightly sloped, almost flat, near the edge of a steep hillside.  The hillside is heavily forested with spruce, and the top of the hill has scarce spruce trees, lots of grass, and alder growing.  As far as snow runoff, behind the building site there is bit of a creek bed if you will, a little lower than the rest of the property, that I'm assuming is where the snow generally runs.  The ground is well drained. 

Coffee hasn't kicked in yet, I apologize if I missed anything critical 

[akwoodchuck]

Oh wow, small world!  What is your argument against the helical piles or sonotubes?  I can see frost heaving being more of an issue with sonotubes but if the helical piles are guaranteed not to move then what do you see the risk being?  Just curious and open to suggestions

OK. I've used the technos on several projects and believe me, they move plenty....side to side, that is. Very difficult to brace those things well (sonotubes have the same issue). Also, those guys have never gotten two posts to line up in my experience, even if I set batter boards, stringlines, etc. The only time to use them IMO is on poor soil like swamp or loose fill (or when the ground is frozen), and only on something like a deck or shed. Sonotubes are great for smaller cabins on good soil, but then you still have to deal with bracing, skirting, insulation, etc.... in the end it's a lot more work and expense than something simple like an excavated crawlspace with a poured footer and permanent wood stemwall, which is what I'm planning to do....rent an excavator, the cost of the materials should run no more than $3000, max....that's concrete, wall panels, insulation, vapor barrier, drain tile...and done in a week or so.....without hand digging any dern post holes, lol. It's a tried and true technique around here...meets code, and is bank financeable. With the occasional rogue 80-90 mph wind gusts we get around here, plus the seismic activity, I want to be able to sleep at night without worrying about the house keeling over 

[jennatorres84]

Very interesting.  Is this something that can be DIY in your opinion?  You're planning on doing yours but you said you've been building here all your life so I'm sure you have the experience with this...  Wanna come out and supervise us??  Haha jk.... But really... Lol

[Patrick]

I think this guy shows a really good diy friendly way to make a good crawl space foundation he's a bit flighty and swears a bit but I think this would be able to be done by most people.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO-KDPPuubk

[jennatorres84]

So once again, newbie question.  What prevents the foundation from heaving with a crawlspace?  I understand that the footer would be below frost line, with the stemwall being above frost line.  Wouldn't the stemwall be easily cracked and moved?  Would we need to bring in fill dirt to prevent the footers from being in contact with potential clay soil?  That would be an added expense.  If we could do the whole project successfully for 4k or less than I would feel good about it, since that's about what we'll be paying a sub to do the sonotubes..

[Don_P]

The outside perimeter is backfilled with something free draining, often clean gravel, to drop the water below frost depth and remove. This removes the potential for ice formation around the foundation when done correctly. Near grade a clay cap graded away from the building is a good idea to help seal the upper part of that drainage plane from surface runoff.

[jennatorres84]

Now what about a slab foundation?  I had our friend last night trying to convince us to stick to our original plan (sonotubes) and that a crawl space was going to be more than we have budgeted by the time we factor in all the materials.  A slab seems as though it would be effective as well as more cost efficient.  I guessed that for a slab we'd need around 16 yards of concrete for the slab & its footing, plus gravel or crushed concrete, a vapor barrier and rebar...

[rick91351]

Myself I would sure like to see that a lot more than piers. 

As has been stated here before in this post and other places there in this forum.  This is what you are building upon.  The last place you want to go cheep is the rock you build the house on.  Pretty hard and costly to change it post facto.  Can be done lots of jacking, blocking, digging and shoring.  But this is not a small house you are building.   

[UK4X4]

"swears a bit"

mmmm understatement !, only thing I don't like is there's no footing width at the bottom that I could see...I did'nt watch all the way through mindyou !

How would a slab foundation be effective at stopping frost heave ?, unless you do the insulated version with foam all under and arround

You'd still be putting your foundation on top of unstable soil which would heave uneavenly.

A standard slab would fall apart.

You'd need a ridgid floating slab, look up waffle slabs.....and see the complexity

If you take a look a my foundation you can see I encorporated some beams in the same way, to add ridgidity to the structure.

we did our concrete pour in one hit, you could do the same, see this thread
http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=11802.0

about half way down

I think he used fabric bags under his forms to get the wider footings.

Mine is overkill  for your area, but the pics shows you how the forms are for doing a single pour.

In your case a trench down below frost, put the forms and rebar in place and single poor allowing the bottom to form full width and the rest within the forms, you'd do the fill in a spiral, filling just the bottom on the first pass.

When you costed your post and beam did you do your loading  first ? you may be surprised at what you need







[/quote]

[UK4X4]

see the post here,
http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=10883.msg138704#msg138704,

first page has some calcs

I needed 10 posts and 36" big foots for a 16 x 18ft BBQ shack

thats with reduced snow load for slippery roofs and 70#snow

County would only accept full 90# snow.....for the house

The posts also went full height so the building braced its self like a pole barn.

If you just have posts and a beam you'll need all the bracing too,

[jennatorres84]

We're thinking of doing the insulated version of a "floating slab" I guess it's called.  I talked to a local concrete company today and asked the guy what he sees a lot of around here and he said it's mostly either slabs or crawlspaces.  The good news-- I realized today, while looking over my lumber/roofing quote, that it includes the lumber for the porch and shed roof.  That was going to be about 4k alone.  We can wait on the front porch for a while and put another 4k toward the foundation . I'd love to get the porch done, but since our goal this summer is to get the house "livable", that doesn't really count...

[jennatorres84]

Also, rick91351, did you get my reply message?  It says it sent, but when I checked my sent messages it wasn't there...

[MountainDon]

jenna, you need to adjust your profile to save sent messages

Look in your profile. In the left sidebar look for   Modify    and    Personal Messaging.    There is a check box that needs to be checked to save a copy of all sent messages by default.  Forum default is to NOT save any.  Alternatively you can save only messages you desire by clicking the box under the PM composition field before you send it.

[Patrick]

There are alot of slab houses here in MN I know 2 people that own them never had any foundation issues and it gets cold here this year I know 2 people that had their water mains freeze in the yard they are 5-6' down. I built my shop on a slab all we did was remove the vegetation put down a load of course sand beveled the edges put down a bunch of rebar and some 6x6  mesh and thats it perimeter footings are 12x16 and the field is 5" thick that was about 10 years ago still hasnt even visibly cracked it is well insulated and heated all winter but I would build like that any day. There is in the area of 15k pounds of equiptment on it all the time and I pull cars/trucks in out also on top of that.I think your making a wise decision steering away from the piers.

[rick91351]

Also, rick91351, did you get my reply message?  It says it sent, but when I checked my sent messages it wasn't there...

Yep! Got it..... 

[jennatorres84]

Update!  Made our first big purchase today- we ordered all our framing materials, windows, insulation, exterior doors, as well as....rigid 2" insulation & rebar for our slab!  We have found some people to help us get the slab right.  Things are coming along nicely   

[pocono_couple]

great to hear..   a time for planning and a time for action...  hmmm, sounds like a song that the Byrds did a very long time ago!  jt

[jennatorres84]

Update!  We have made progress!  Yesterday we had concrete poured for our footer!  We settled upon using Amvic ICF blocks to form a 48" crawl space foundation.  We felt that they are the most user friendly and since they're so lightweight, easy for me to help position.  Can anyone help answer a question though?  What would be the best inexpensive solution for bracing the ICF's?  I know that for full basement walls people use extensive metal bracing systems, but for only 4' I'm wondering if we really need that. 

[jennatorres84]

Here are some pics of our progress!  After our concrete pour we decided at the last minute that we would add 4 feet of studs for a future basement.  So far we've completed basement framing and first floor joists.  Tomorrow we'll be sheeting and then ready to frame 1st floor walls.  This is coming along nicely!  We have made a few adjustments to the floor plan.  First, we decided to have the utility room/washer & dryer down in the basement which will open up space for a breakfast nook adjacent to the kitchen.  We are also removing an upstairs bathroom, widening the master bedroom.   

[jennatorres84]

And as a side note, we had a wild encounter with a grizzly bear last night!  We are staying in a 26' camper on our property, and as we were eating dinner our dog, who was outside at the time, just started going crazy.  Kids looked out the window and screamed "BEAR!!!!"  Hubby grabbed the shotgun, loaded with alternating slugs & buckshot, and ran outside.  The bear was right in front of him, so close.  10 feet perhaps?  He was screaming at our dog to back down, and soon the bear bolted off.  Such a close call but everyone was safe, and we all had a good reminder that this is Alaska!



Heres a pic of the bear.  I grabbed my phone right as it ran off.  It's a blurry photo (I was shaking!) but you can see the bear directing behind the scaffolding.

[jennatorres84]

Ranger, The Great Bear Defender! Lol 

[schiada]

Well done "Ranger" treats for him ! GOOD DOG! 

[jennatorres84]

Yep!!  My husband and I have had lots of "what if" discussions, wondering how he'd react in the event of a bear.  He impressed us!

[John Raabe]

Nice work on the foundation.

Ranger looks like he has both seriousness and intelligence - a good mix for a watch dog and bear pesterer (sp?).

[jennatorres84]

Lol yes, that's a pretty accurate description of him.  We got more done today!  Sheeted the basement walls, started 1st floor flooring, and stairs.  Tomorrow we'll finish the flooring and hopefully get started on some walls!