I have been lurking here for quite some time, but this is my first post. The collection of knowledge on this forum, and the willingness to help others is impressive.
We have property ( 1/2 acre) in a small village on the coast in Newfoundland, Canada. The site overlooks the Atlantic ocean and the views are fantastic. We are eventually planning to build a small vacation cottage...most likely a single story, and trying to decide on the best foundation for the conditions. The building site is nearly flat, but is completely covered with bedrock near the surface, or within a few inches of the surface.
We are thinking of a concrete perimiter foundation - pinned to the bedrock - to create a low crawlspace. I would think there is no need for a footer since the bedrock should act as a great footer. Another possibility might be a sonotube pier foundation - again pinned to the bedrock. The area gets fairly high winds in the wintertime so the foundation needs to be well anchored.
Advice and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
w* gdmiles,
It sounds as though you only need confirmation of what you know. If it is one continuous rock I'd pin a full perimeter foundation to it to lock it down against the wind. Facing that open pond we get engineering for the entire structure. One of mine got hit by 2 hurricanes within a year, the second came onshore at 130 mph. There isn't much out there to slow it down!
w* I ditto Don_P for the conditions/location you describe. Pin her down real good.
Mount her on a sledge ready to haul across the bay? Couldn't resist. Have you ever read "The Shipping News"?
Thanks for the feedback on the foundation. I am leaning towards the perimiter foundation with crawlspace. Just curious if anyone has experience with setting and bracing the forms on shallow bedrock. Would ICF forms be a better solution since they can be scribed to fit the contour of the bedrock. The bedrock is only a few inches deep at most...so no soil to stake the forms.
We also have to think about cover for the water and sewer lines. The property has town water and sewer about 100 feet from where we want to build, but I don't want to get into serious blasting to bring in the water lines...frost penetration here is about 3-4 feet. Only half of the property has the shallow bedrock (the higher section with the view), but the area near the road is not ideal for building the cottage. I was thinking that we could trench to where we encounter the ledge, then run the water and sewer lines on the surface for the last 40-50 feet following a shallow depression up to the building site. We could use fill to cover the lines about 1 foot deep. That might be OK for the sewer line, but that will not prevent freezing of the water supply. Has anyone used heat tape on their supply lines? I was looking at Carapace "heat line" as they have a product for constant pressure water supply lines. http://www.heatline.com/carapace.htm (http://www.heatline.com/carapace.htm) This place is intended mainly for summertime use, but may also be used periodically in winter. I would design the plumbing so the supply lines could be drained when the house is not occupied in winter.
(https://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z459/gdmiles/Newfoundland07-2040.jpg)
This is the view from our property facing southeast (but mostly east). The lawn chairs are at the spot where we would like to build. You can see the bedrock (ledge) outcrops in the photo. This is right on "iceberg alley" so icebergs are sometimes visible in early summer. Also sometimes see humpback whales breaching in the distance during July or August. I grew up in this area but moved away about 35 years ago...living in Colorado now, but we try to visit every summer.
Still deciding what to build, but thinking of a small 1 story using a modified version of the Volks cottage plan. Perhaps just the 26x28 foot section to start - 1 bedroom - with a covered porch facing east. Due to time constraints I will probably contract the foundation and shell...then finish the inside during vacation time. I will post a sample floorplan for comments when I get it finished.
Yes, I read the "shipping news"...also saw the movie with Kevin Spacey. The movie was filmed about 30 miles from where the photo was taken.
One of the loveliest places on the planet...
Thanks hpinson...it's definitely a special place. As you alluded to in your earlier post, in years past fishermen actually did move their houses across the sea ice in the wintertime - or floated them across the water in the summer - when some of the remote communities were relocated.
Tourism is still new - so visitors are still appreciated, and some of the friendliest people you will meet...and Americans are very welcome 8) Check out the book "The day the world came to town"...written by someone who was trapped on an airplane when the US shutdown airspace on 9-11. Quite a few of the airplanes that were inbound over the Atlantic were diverted to Newfoundland. The book is about how the small town of Gander took care of the thousands of travelers that were stranded there...for days.
(https://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z459/gdmiles/Newfoundland07-2043.jpg)
Another photo looking towards town...as you can see...more rock. Actually, that's the nickname for the island..."The Rock". This is the small fishing village of Elliston, Newfoundland (pop. 350) - check it out on Google Earth. Not the end of the earth...but you can see it from there. Beyond those islands you see from our property...the next stop is Ireland. The next larger town (pop. 3500) is 5 miles away...and the nearest stop light is 70 miles away.
We plan to start small with something we can use for vacations, with the possibility to add another bedroom or porch/mudroom as we get to use it for longer periods in a few years. I am thinking single story to avoid stairs and for ease/speed of construction since I will need to hire a contractor for the foundation and to put up the shell. That's not something I can accomplish in a 3 week vacation.
(https://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z459/gdmiles/Picnicwithaview.jpg)
A picnic with a view. This is where we want to build. Not much soil...only supports grass and blueberries.
(https://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z459/gdmiles/SmallIcebergnearTwillingate.jpg)
Fetching ice for my beverage ;)
Pin and pour. Although not completely impossible to pour a footing and lay blocks but very labor intensive. The poured foundation/crawspace would be faster. I would also look into a coating (epoxy) for the exposed concrete being that it is exposed to salt/spray. As for the underground lines I would say that it is almost impossible to find enough soil to cover 3-4' and shipping from someplace else would probably be cost prohibitive. But "if" you could the elevation of the house would be made to compensate for the utilitiy lines unless you have to raise it so much on the sewer to have it flow by gravity or pump it up hill. What an ideal location for a house. I hope you can work through all the challanges.
amazing lot! looking forward to hearing about your project! [cool]
lovely plot with a million dollar view ---when the sun is out !
others mentioned the uphill sewage, you may need to think of a colection tank- macerator and pump, so your foundation may need to include some space for this too.
Looking at the area pretty sure the local builder has already solved most of the"problems"
what was that horror movie with the house tied down with steel strops !
Thanks UK4x4...it's quite nice there in the summer and fall. Springtime weather is not so great - rain and fog...and winter can be windy, wet and cold. I grew up there, but don't have plans to move back full time...just intended for a small summer cottage.
I may have confused the issue regarding the sewer drainage. The building site is on high ground, so drainage will be downhill - and it has hook ups at the road for town water and sewer. The bigest issue is the area where I want to build (the high ground with the view) is solid bedrock - so the water and sewer lines cannot be buried. The lower area near the road is rocky gravel so the lines can be buried for about half the distance (the first 50-60 feet).
I do need to winterize the water supply line since we want the option of winter usage. That will likely require some sort of electric heat trace...I was thinking of using Carapace http://www.heatline.com/carapace.htm. Just curious if anyone has experience with that product. We can probably fill (berm) over top of the water and sewer lines perhaps to a depth of a foot or so on the bedrock area - just for protection of the pipe.
Also have a question on the sewer waste line. Do we need to put heat trace on the waste line, or will the sewer gas prevent freezing if the cottage is used in the winter. There should be no standing water in the pipe, but concerned about buildup of ice inside the pipe.
I have no idea if this would work, but maybe you could
wrap the pipes with maybe 10 inches of foam insulation
and then have something like a thick fence to hide and shed the
water off of it. Essentially when you bury it that is what the ground does. ie insulate it.
Others should comment on this since I may be way off base.
Bruce