24x40 1.5 story in Indiana

[davidp]

I have been reading this site for about a year and a half now, and have gotten a lot of ideas from the builds posted here.  I am finally starting to make some progress on my own build and wanted to start a post for it.  The house is going to be 24'x40' 1.5 story with a 10'6"x15' room coming off the SW corner.  I intend to use a FPSF, and have a few questions about them.  I want to have a crawlspace, about 3' high, and a large central stone fireplace.  My first question is without putting a full slab under the crawlspace, how should I build the foundation for the fireplace?  The fireplace will be 7' wide and 4' deep and will go all the way to the roof to serve as a support for the ridge beam.

Here is a top view of both floors:


Before shot of the site, looking at where the front entry will be:

Looking south into the house site:


View off the back porch:




This is going to be a paycheck by paycheck build so progress will be slow, but the site has been cleared of all the stumps I could pull out with my truck.  I have a neighbor coming to dig the footers and pull the rest of the stumps in a couple weeks.  I also have a friend coming over this coming weekend to give me a quote on the footers and block crawlspace walls, so any input on the foundation design for the fireplace is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
David

[Don_P]

 
Here's the basics for the question but get to know that whole chapter well, it's dense.
http://publicecodes.cyberregs.com/icod/irc/2012/icod_irc_2012_10_par002.htm?bu2=undefined

What is the frost depth?

[TCR]

Looks like Southern Indiana?

[JDVICKOUS]

davidp,

I also live in Indiana and have been looking at this floor plan. I will message you for details...

[davidp]

I am in Putnam county, the frost depth is 36".  I read that chapter of code, but am still a bit unsure of the proper sizing of the footing.  My understanding of the code is that I'll need a footing 12" thick by about 20" wide for the fireplace.  The footing only needs to be 12" below final grade since it will be in the middle of the house, and wont get below freezing.  Does that sound about right? 

Thanks,
David

[MountainDon]

What if the house was to be left vacant, plumbing winterized, no heat, for a winter?   Might seem a far fetched scenario, but there is a foreclosed home down the street from us that is entering its second winter. No heat.....

I believe that the sentence "In areas not subjected to freezing, footings shall be at least 12 inches (305 mm) below finished grade. " means geographic area not a specific area under a house.

...could be wrong on that and I'm sure Don_P will set me straight if I am.

[Don_P]

I was wondering that, I was hoping the frost depth was going to come back shallow enough to make the cost of foam vs going a little deeper a wash. I don't know the answer, I've never worked with one but I think you have to maintain heat for the life of the structure if you go frost protected.

On the 4'x7' fireplace, for the footing I would dig a 5'x8'x1' deep footing, use a 12"x12" grid of rebar about 4" off the bottom. About 1-1/2 yards.

Some cheap tricks to make it more shake resistant, rebar with an L bend buried in the footing and extending up each corner all the way to the top. It is then strapped to the much larger footprint of the footing not just sitting on it. Wrap a belt of rebar around the chimney every 8' or more often, this helps keep the reinforced corners tied together into one unit.