stem wall

[Leo]

 In victorias plans a stem wall for a crawl space is shown as 6 inches, Using concrete blocks how high can I go before  8 inch block are in order ?

[jraabe]

Most codes allow a 6" wall for one story crawlspace foundations. Typically a 24"-30" wall. This can support a roof and one floor and usually a loft or attic.

For two story or basement construction your wall should be 8" thick.

If I were doing concrete block, I think I would use 8" block for both one and two story construction. Then you don't need to change for wall height and can just adjust the rebar as required by local code.

[Leo]

John I guess 8 inch block is in order as im looking at 4 feet on the down hill side.and at this point it seems if I take the wall up 3 to 4 feet more I have  the makings of atleast a partial basement. the frost line is about 10 inches deep how deep and size of footer?thanks

[jraabe]

A standard footer for 8" block would be 8x16 with two number 4 bars 3" off the bottom. The bottom of the footing needs to be at frostline or below.

[Leo]

 Thanks John  on the foundation Im triple checking. I plan to take the block work up two feet above the ground and build a knee wall from there up to give a half basement  as there is a four foot drop in 16 feet.A large basement isnt needed but one big enough for a washer ,dryer and wood stove appeals to us.   the two parts of this project I dread are the septic tank and masonry work ,both early in the job. The only reason Im not going post and pier is the number of trees around brought down by wind and I like the idea of all that concrete BALLAST.