Cushion for the Foundation

The Foundation is an important part of the house, it also decides how long the house will stand, so with poor quality of the Foundation the house can crack and quickly collapse. Well, what to do if in most cases, the developer considers himself the smartest. I did so, but before the action prefer to read the instructions. And under the foundations found an interesting solution. This is not suitable for all types of soils, but for many it will be a very cheap solution.

So before construction you need to know the basic is the type of soil and bearing capacity, it can be determined by conventional drilling up to a meter. If you have very high groundwater, or you are in a swamp or peat, this solution is not suitable for you. It is mainly for those who have pretty good soil. But it's pretty heaving.

And we all dream to build a cheap Foundation, and what can be cheaper than a strip Foundation, but there are of course restrictions on the depth of the Foundation, for many buildings, private, this depth is about 80 cm and 60 cm above ground level, which turns out to be very expensive, there is a way out if under the Foundation above ground level, replace the soil with not heaving.

To do this, you can replace it with sand, and better gravel and thick pillows 30-40 cm, less I would not recommend. And priority would give all the same crushed stone as it is less subject to washing out because of the size. When ramming it will also work like sand. Really through him under the house will be harder to get for all insects and rodents, the sand still less durable material and easier to wash or undermining.

So I use this example and with the correct calculation, you can save quite a bit of money without losing the strength and reliability of the Foundation. In any case, without a pillow to pour the Foundation can not, it can then create a uniform load and cracks. Just do not forget about the external insulation of the Foundation and waterproofing.

©Дмитрий