PT (pressure treated) wood foundation

[John Raabe]

A fellow named Danny Kay tried to post this to the old forum. It is a good set of links.

PWF stands for Permanent Wood Foundation and it is also called a PT wood foundation.

The Permanent Wood Foundation is a very viable foundation for areas where concrete is difficult to deliver or for owner-builders who want to use standard framing techniques with only a few new details to learn. Such foundations are particularity good for a basement that will be finished out. The finished space is larger, and more comfortable than would be the case in a concrete basement. Such a framing system is also good for earth sheltered designs.

Kay suggests having a third party inspection. He found information and links to inspectors at these web sites. http://www.southernpine.com and http://www.cwc.ca.

The Southern Pine Council has free and low cost publications on PWF. This is some of the best information available and anyone planning to build using this system should get a copy of the free "Design and Construction Guide".

http://www.pwfs.com/index123456789.html - has slide shows of PWF installations and more information.

Note: in some areas of the country foundation grade wood is made from wood species other than southern pine. The construction details are the same, however.

[cbrian]

The links for this are out of date. Here are some new links.
http://www.southernpine.com/applications/permanent-wood-foundations/
http://www.jlconline.com/basement/permanent-wood-foundations.aspx

[John Raabe]

Thanks for updating that. It is still an option to consider for some projects.