Camp Hope~ It's started! (Ozarks)

camp hope · August 01, 2007, 10:35:23 PM

Hey there. We have been very inspired by this website, and thought we would start to post our progression on the house we are building. We are building a 24 x 24 2 story house with log siding in the Ozarks. I have been taking pictures, and will post them soon. This is our first time building a home, so it is very exciting and nerve wracking at the same time. I will be posting more soon!

glenn kangiser · August 01, 2007, 10:38:09 PM

Welcome to the forum. We will be looking forward to seeing your progress. Might even be able to answer a few questions.

August 01, 2007, 11:22:27 PM

Thanks! I'm sure we will have questions, that's why this forum is so great! We welcome and appreciate any help or suggestions!

camp hope · August 03, 2007, 07:21:59 PM

testing

camp hope · August 03, 2007, 07:26:47 PM

We dug out the footers, and had cement poured and septic put in the same day.

We have the subfloor on now, I will get some pics and put them on here a.s.a.p.

We are doing this ourselves....never built a house before, so it's pretty exciting and scary!
Any tips or suggestions is appreciated!

Have a great day!

August 03, 2007, 08:10:54 PM

Interesting project. The foundation is very simple and easy to build.
You must have great bearing soil (over 6,000 lbs/SF) and a very shallow frost depth.

glenn kangiser · August 03, 2007, 08:53:48 PM

Sounds like a busy day.

It does sound like a heavy house for the amount of footings doesn't it? Or were there continuous concrete footings with block piers extended above them? Looks like deeper trenches in the first picture.

Did someone do a foundation design, Camp Hope?

camp hope · August 03, 2007, 09:49:38 PM

Yes, concrete footings and block piers with rebar. We've been told by many that we have over-done what we need to do, but we figured~better safe than sorry!

I don't really know what you mean by a "foundation design". Apparently the frost depth is not too deep, because the guy that dug ours didn't even want to go as deep as we had him go, he said it was not necessary.?! The concrete footers are 2ft deep by 2ft wide. With the block piers and rebar,etc... is that sufficient for a 2 story home? Let me know what you think. Thanks!

glenn kangiser · August 03, 2007, 10:21:15 PM

By the foundation design I meant how the total load is transferred to the ground. John has mentioned how the load starts at the roof - so many lbs load for live load (snow) dead load then upstairs load - down stairs load etc all combined then transferred to the footings and to the ground.

I meant that someone - engineer - architect etc had made sure the foundation would not sink into the ground and the beams were of sufficient size to carry all the combined house wall and roof loads between the individual piers.

I only have the information on John's designs and while we (and he) don't mind talking about other plans in the forum -except the Plans Support forum which s only for his plans , we are pretty well in the dark as to the rest of the design of the house.

August 03, 2007, 10:59:06 PM

I only did a quick calculation on the design loads for the house. 24x24 by two stories (at 40 psf each for live load) and a 25 psf live load on the roof equals over 77,000 lbs when you add in the dead loads. Assuming you could get all the foundation footings to bear the weight equally, then you can total up the area of the footings for the next step. I came up with 12.4 sf just guessing from the photos. (Note: if there is a continuous footing with a couple of rebar tying the block piers together then this area would be considerably larger). If the pier area is close, that divides out to somewhere around 6270 lbs per sf of footing for the soil pressure. The soil must be able to resist with a force greater than this or the house will settle.

Most building departments assume a 2000 psf soil bearing capacity unless you have soil logs or tests that say otherwise. That is what I design my stock plan foundations for.

As Glenn mentions - as long as the designer and building department both sign off on this, then you are likely to be fine. You might be OK even if neither have been checked

. Most engineering assumptions are cautious be a factor of two or three, at least.

Except if you are a bridge designer in Minnesota.

- then you go for broke!

Note - You will not want to build in wet clay with that kind of pressure!

John Raabe · August 04, 2007, 07:43:24 AM

The more I look at these photos the more I think there is a big footing there.

Here are what I think are some of the good ideas we can glean from this easy to build foundation.

In cold climates where you don't want to trench the entire footing 4' deep, you could rest the block piers on oversized spot footings.

glenn kangiser · August 04, 2007, 08:44:32 AM

QuoteYes, concrete footings and block piers with rebar. We've been told by many that we have over-done what we need to do, but we figured~better safe than sorry! I don't really know what you mean by a "foundation design". Apparently the frost depth is not too deep, because the guy that dug ours didn't even want to go as deep as we had him go, he said it was not necessary.?! [highlight]The concrete footers are 2ft deep by 2ft wide[/highlight]. With the block piers and rebar,etc... is that sufficient for a 2 story home? Let me know what you think. Thanks!

That's what I gather from the reply and I thought this photo showed a big deep long footing trench.

As long as beams are properly sized to accommodate point loads on the piers it seems good to me.

John Raabe · August 04, 2007, 09:21:23 AM

Yes, a continuous footer two feet deep is more than is needed! 8" tall x 16" wide w/ 2 rebar would be standard for a two story house.

I was worried you were bearing those piers directly on the soil with no footer. That's what the bearing calculations above were assuming. Sorry that I misread the photos. The red dots are smaller deeper footings that could be done if you were in Maine or Minnesota.

Good Job!

This place will not have to worry about settlement.

camp hope · August 04, 2007, 03:26:12 PM

Well, thanks guys for taking the time to look it over, I appreciate that! You two, I'm sure know a lot more about this than we do. So, we appreciate the feedback! I'm glad you think it will be sufficient. My husband, who i'm sure will get on here and talk to you all, is a very intelligent man, and I trust him completely to build and design our home. But it is nice to share our ideas and get some feedback. Thanks again!

Billie

August 04, 2007, 03:36:53 PM

Our pleasure, Billie. We love to help you beat your little part of the system.

Sometimes we have to ask a few questions to clear things up as things aren't always obvious over the net. Looks like you are doing a great job. Please keep the pictures coming.

teacher2 · August 07, 2007, 06:24:41 PM

Concerning this type of foundation - Would this be good for an expansive clay soil, such as in NE Texas or would a slab be better?

John Raabe · August 09, 2007, 03:11:27 PM

If the rules of a good foundation were followed:
1. Site grading drains water away from the house in all directions.
2. Footing is below frost depth
3. Drain rock and tile around the perimeter
4. (optional) a French drain if there is surface or subsurface water to deal with

Then this foundation should be fine in clay soils.

The only reason to go to a full perimeter concrete foundation wall (on what is already a full perimeter footing) is to get more anchorage into the ground for shear panels and uplift protection. These may be needed in very high wind and strong earthquake areas.

Billie's project has cast straps that do a good job of tying the footings and the walls together.

camp hope · August 25, 2007, 06:57:29 PM

:DI explained our situation, but thought a picture would say it all. We have been living in our motorhome since January. Not fun. But we know it is a sacrifice to get our house done sooner. We thought about renting a place in town while we build, it sure would have been easier, since we do not have electricity, water, anything!

But things are looking up!

We are close to getting our well done, and the electric company is finally working with us to get some power out here! Within a month we should have power and water, and our well is already done. So, we are coming along. We WILL get there!

camp hope · August 25, 2007, 07:01:10 PM

Oops, used wrong tag. Here ya go.

EDIT: image link repaired, MD

camp hope · August 25, 2007, 07:08:44 PM

WE HAVE PROGRESS!!!

Just wanted to show some of what we have accomplished this past month.
We have the first floor framed, and we are starting on the second floor. It's been SUPER hot here, like most of the country, I'm sure. Predominately 100+ temps. We've tried working in the morning and evenings and resting through the hottest part of the day. We have been doing this ourselves, so we are pleased with how much we have done. We did have a few friends come out one day, which was a real blessing, for sure! We appreciate any help!

Here are some pictures of what we've done.