Hi all:
I have been lurking here for several years. I cannot tell you guys how proud I am of the people that just jump in and build themselve a abode.
I need some advice on footers for my foundation.
My building site is on clay with a water tabel of 32". I have spent a small fortune having a local excavator put in drain tiles and dig down to a gravel layer and fill in with compacted pit run gravel.
I have a well in. (but no pump yet)
A approved driveway. (that is shared with the neighbor)
And there is power on the property.
I am into this project to the tune of about $70K at this time.
It is 5 acres located on the Snake river south of Nampa Idaho.
I now do not have the funds to build my retirement home. I plan on building in stages.
First stage is a 14'X14' 2 story with a loft. This will make it possible to live in a motor home while I build my house.
Do I need to do anything special with the footings to make it so as I can build on to it?
If I visualize this correctly, you now have good solid bearing soil with compacted gravel ready for footings.
Is this at or below frostline? If it is you can just build a standard foundation for a two story building. That would normally be a 16"x 8" concrete footing with two rebars placed near the bottom. On this you can build an 8" block or poured concrete stemwall to where you will set anchor bolts to transition to wood construction via a PT sill plate. This entire 2 story foundation could also be built from PT studs and plywood without any concrete. (All three foundation options are detailed in the Universal Cottage plans.)
Greetings, I live south of Nampa as well but not that far out.
w*
Yes John I do plan on back filling the outside of the foundation. I don't think I have to fill in the crawelspace do I? I believe the frost level is 24" in Owhee county.
We dug a 7' wide by 4 1/2' deep trench and filled it with pit run fill.We dug test holes to find a site where the gravel layer was the shallowest. It was 10' deep where I wanted to build the house. The trench was compacted by tamping it with a backhoe. The excavation contractor then drove his 60,000# loaded gravel truck over it several passes for good measure. The building site has set for several years so as to allow it to seattle even more.
We also installed a 5' deep drain tile up grade from the house. I left a piece of perforated french drain pipe sticking vertically out of the ground so I can monitor the water level. It did go from about 30" to the 5' and it has stayed there.
I think I now have a good building site.
If anyone can think of something that I should do to further improve on it I would appreciate any input.
I dont know if I can figure out photo bucket but I will try to get it before I start my build.
Thank you Bob
It sounds like you have done just about all you can to provide a solid stable building site.
No, you do not need to backfill the crawlspace.
(Here's a helpful overview on posting photos: http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=3512.0)