Home Building starts with the foundation. The foundation of your house is…. well your foundation. If your foundation was laid out wrong, or you are having problems with water or expansive soils around your foundation, you will see them manifest themselves in other areas of the structure. Whether your project is DIY, or you have hired a building contractor, you need to understand the terminology and the pitfalls of each foundation type to make sure you cover all the issues and account for the proper handling of water infiltration and Radon infiltration.
If your foundation does not have an adequate waterproofing system to drain excess water and you do not have a sufficient water barrier on the exterior basement walls, you will have a damp or soggy basement and subsequently, this will lead to mold. In basement foundations, water infiltration is controlled with perimeter drainage systems tied to either a sump pump or daylight drain and a waterproof membrane either sprayed on or mechanically affixed to the perimeter walls.
Perimeter Perforated Drain system - DIY Green Home Improvement
Although basements are popular with a great many people, they are not always feasible. In Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, etc. – sub-surface water is too close for portions of the year to control the possibility of water infiltration to the basement. So in these areas the preferred foundation has become the slab-on-grade.
Slab-on-grade is a foundation where you pour a mattress of concrete (usually with thickened portions at the perimeter and at interior load bearing locations). These are typically 4-6 inches thick and are both very economical and reliable and the easiest to control water issues with. They are preferred when dealing with low-bearing capacity soils and areas with water tables close to the surface (less than 10 feet). You will notice if these are the predominant type of foundation in your area. just look at the building lots in your area when construction begins and you will see what type of foundation is there.
Another issue with basement foundations or crawl-space foundations is the bearing capacity of the underlying soil and the expansiveness of the soil. Expansive soils expand as the take on moisture. If not accounted for, they can destroy a foundation is short order because of the pressures they exert on the concrete. They require special attention to drainage , backfill and sometimes the addition of caissons drilled into rock to support the walls. The caissons are drilled down to rock and the walls are supported on the caissons with a void form underneath to allow for expansion of the soils. In any event, most basement foundations will have a concrete slab for the floor.
Concrete Void Form - DIY Green Home Improvement
Another issue that is important to the safety and health of your family is to plan to mitigate Radon. Radon gas is now recognized as a very serious threat to the health of those who endure long-term exposure. It has been linked to lung cancer and other serious illnesses. It is also present in about 80% of the country. So you need to incoprorate systems to mitigate its presence in the foundation. We will talk about this in detail later.
Lastly, if the foundation is not laid out square, you will have problems with framing the upper portions to a square condition and thus problems with interior finishes etc. It is important to pick a competent and diligent concrete contractor to build the foundation and it even more important to have an engineer design the foundation to ensure that the proper type of foundation is put in place on the site you have chosen. If you do not sufficient expereince and skill to perfrom this project, it will be best to leave it to a pro. It is highly likely, given the need for concrete forms, that you will not be able to justify tackling the foundation as a DIY project. Visit the American Concrete Institute for further information.
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This site is intended to be a gathering spot for people passionate about home improvement, home building and green building issues. In the last few years, everyone has begun focusing on “green building” and “green technologies”. While this has the potential to trigger strong emotions and opinions. In reality, we as Americans have always been known for maximizing our resources and using what has been entrusted to us with care and efficiency. The efficient use of resources is a concept that all of us can agree is in our best interests whatever your personal opinions about the issues of “man made global warming” and “climate change“. Despite the outcry of impending doom, smart, realistic decisions on the use of technologies and methods are best made in a calm, deliberative manner to avoid poor choices or decisions not based on sound analysis of the promise and cost of any one approach.
There are no magic bullet solutions to the myriad of problems we face regarding the use of fossil fuels, only a vast array of solutions that in toto will produce a dramatic increase in energy efficiency and sustainability that is necessary to preserve the quality of our lives. As we expend 30% plus of our total energy usage to heat, cool and light our homes, it is very important we make considered decisions on the technologies, methods and practices we employ in the building of those homes.
This will not be a political forum and we will always endeavor only to discuss the validity of technology and techniques in the framework of do they make sense from a usability and economic standpoint. It is my belief that by focusing on what benefits us as individuals will always lead us to make the most community beneficial choices in methods, practices and economics as it relates to the use of energy sources and choices.
This does not mean we will not debate some of the barriers to implementing new technologies and techniques. There are realities of the the market that we need to understand that can prevent the widespread adoption of viable, desirable technologies and we will discuss those here. We hope you will join in on these discussions and participate where possible as the site develops.
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