How to build on concrete piers?

[misstumble]

Has anyone build on piers. I am planning on building myself. Goal is 80% salvaged materials. I need all the knowledge and experience I'm hoping this venue will be a valuable resource . I have bought my lot and a few ideas. 26x 26 2 story for basics.... The floor is open! Please share your knowlege😃
AGER TO LEARN

[akwoodchuck]

A year ago I hung rock in a fella's house, 24x32, 3 story, built on sonotubes sticking 5 feet above the ground, on a slope, soft clay soils....of course I advised him that the foundation was pretty inadequate. Next winter, we had a big shaker, 7 on the richter, house dropped several inches on the front side. I don't like concrete pier foundations....

[Don_P]

Lack of lateral support is a problem with these, this is the section asking for engineering when piers are part of the load path.
R404.1.9.3 Masonry piers supporting braced wall panels.
Masonry piers supporting braced wall panels shall be designed in accordance with accepted engineering practice.

The closest prescriptive (non-engineered) foundation is a pier and curtain wall, R404.1.5.3;
http://codes.iccsafe.org/app/book/content/VA/2012_VA_Residential_HTML/Chapter%204.html

[jimvandyke]

I looked into this as well. With our soil conditions it was easier and cheaper to just pour a footer and build a block wall. That said, my building is only 16 x 24 which doesn't require piers inside the perimeter.  If you go over 16 foot wide you will probably need some piers in the middle.  Why do you want to use piers? The only time I could see this may be necessary is if the ground is really steep that you are building on.  The best option I think, is monolithic slab foundation. The slab costs a bit but you don't have to worry about all the flooring joists, beams etc. But where I live the ground water is so high and slabs have moisture, termite and settling problems (we have expansive clay and sand) so the norm is to build a crawl space 4 blocks off grade on a good size footer. The foundation supports your building and is one of the most important parts of you build, don't skimp do what is best for your area.

Jim