Anyone know about Wood Foundations?

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straightlinespeed

straightlinespeed

Sometimes I pretend to be normal
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Just like the title says. Looking for people that are familiar with wood foundations. If anyone is, let me know. I have some questions.
 
I wake up with one sometimes, but that's all I know...
 
Run....
They rot, the bugs eat them, insurance won't cover your home if they find out. Trouble all around I say.
Pete
 
The only wood foundation that would be acceptable in my humble opinion is one made up of pressure treated wood pilings driven into the ground.
 
68gtxman said:
The only wood foundation that would be acceptable in my humble opinion is one made up of pressure treated wood pilings driven into the ground.
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the so called pole building here is the norm for barns/garages. treated 4 x 4 or 5 x 5 's. the poles are set upright in the ground, those are your "foundation".

my home is of that construction. I describe it as "rustic"!!! no problem with insurance, I have to pick my ins. co. as far as wood hear is concerned tought.

if I sell, NOT eligible for trick govn't FHA financing, as it is not considered " conventional" construction. I would have to find a buyer that actually has some $$. or finance it. Ha
 
barbee6043 said:
the so called pole building here is the norm for barns/garages. treated 4 x 4 or 5 x 5 's. the poles are set upright in the ground, those are your "foundation".

my home is of that construction. I describe it as "rustic"!!! no problem with insurance, I have to pick my ins. co. as far as wood hear is concerned tought.

if I sell, NOT eligible for trick govn't FHA financing, as it is not considered " conventional" construction. I would have to find a buyer that actually has some $$. or finance it. Ha
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surely those are set in concrete ! I`ve used treated 4x6`s for a 22x22 carport, and painted the part that was in the concrete 2 or 3 times before setting them in the concrete. has been satisfactory so far.
 
the pole barn builders around here feel they last longer just set in dirt. no paint. just treated wood.

I have set my poles in concrete. probably the pro builders know best!??? or just saving a buck!?? don't know.
 
barbee6043 said:
the so called pole building here is the norm for barns/garages. treated 4 x 4 or 5 x 5 's. the poles are set upright in the ground, those are your "foundation".

my home is of that construction. I describe it as "rustic"!!! no problem with insurance, I have to pick my ins. co. as far as wood hear is concerned tought.

if I sell, NOT eligible for trick govn't FHA financing, as it is not considered " conventional" construction. I would have to find a buyer that actually has some $$. or finance it. Ha
Click to expand...

This is essentially the same, except that you don't know the true bearing capacity of your poles since they weren't driven. Perfectly acceptable for a utility structure without much forethought, but for a home, someone should have evaluated the bearing capacity of the soil under each of the poles to ensure there won't be differential settling in the future. I built a building where all but one corner of the planned structure bore on solid subsurface conditions. We had to drive piles down below the "soft" subsoil in that corner and beef up the footing to span it back to the solid soil. The only way to know this in advance is to do a boring analysis at each of the corners in advance (and midway on long sides if the structure will be a long one).

What I recommend for pole barn excavations in softer soil is to dig the hole wide at the bottom and place concrete in it up to a foot thick, letting it cure for a few days, before placing the poles in the holes. The wider concrete foot spreads the point load onto a larger area, which decreases the potential for settling problems.

Coating the underground portion of the pole with an asphaltic product is good too.

Full encasement of the underground portion in concrete is overkill, unless you need the structure to resist some wind loading that it wouldn't otherwise get from diagonal bracing of adjacent wall corners. Such as in the case of a free standing straight wall (I don't know what use anyone would have for this though).

These are just some general thoughts. Each structure's design should be evaluated by either a professional or an experienced builder.
 
The city of Venice stands on some wood pylons/foundation. It's the combination of moisture and oxygen that causes the problem.

And you do know this is why they give Viagra to old men in care facilities, right? It's so they have a pole foundation to keep them from rolling out of bed.
 
I was a licensed General Contractor for years. I've never seen a wood foundation other than creosote pilings driven or pumped (water pressure displacing the bottom soil) into the ground. If you could be more specific?
 
Built a basement foundation for my uncle's new house. It was made out of 2x6 and 3/4 inch treated plywood. The basement wall sat on compacted stone that was pinned down by rebar.
Waterproofed on the outside then poured the floor and built the first floor deck before being backfilled.
 
Sorry I posted that last night and Im just now able to get back to you guys. Of course I already got my answers and I called the builder of the foundation today, just to be sure. However I'll go into details of the foundation, since its a bit different.

First off, our house has a wood foundation, which is all below grade. I was leery of it when I first heard about it, but after doing some research I found out that a lot of houses in our area have them, and more are being built with them.

In our case it comes with a 75 year warranty. How its built is 2X8 treated, 16 on center, sitting on the footings, 1" marine grade plywood on the outside with a protective water proofing. Around the entire foundation on the outside is wall is 8' of sand to help with water run off. Also some sort of fancy mat and fancy drain tile system. On the inside of the wall is regular fiberglass insulation between the studs, the inside walls are finished with 1" Styrofoam, and 5/8" sheet rock with the vapor barrier.
 
Just curious about a couple of things - who can guarantee something for 75 years and still be around? How is the plywood attached to the 2X8's?
I guess if you think about it can't be all that bad of a method of construction, as there are houses in Europe that are over 400 years old (and still standing) that have wood foundations.............
 
!!!RUN!!!

Here's a little story, semi related

When I was doing HVAC service, I had known that a defunct contractor had built some wood foundation houses around here

One day I got a call from the office, some elderly lady claimed her "ductwork was falling apart."

I went over there, and this house just sort of had "that look." REAL low to the ground. So she invited me in, and here, in the hall (single story) is a downflow furnace in a small closet, so far so good

Se takes me over to a living room supply and pulls the register out of the floor. You can see the ground below!!!

(In "gas school" they told us there was a few of them in the Spokamentro area.....said you can always "tell" because the snow is melted away from the house all around, LOL. That's a joke, son, but they are "about" that bad)

All they did was to build a house with a sealed crawl space, this house did not really even have a crawl.....you could not get under there, the joists were 6" above the ground. Just "throw" a downflow furnace in the house, and pressurize the crawl space. Then just cut a hole LOL wherever you need heat.
 
STR-14 said:
Just curious about a couple of things - who can guarantee something for 75 years and still be around? How is the plywood attached to the 2X8's?
I guess if you think about it can't be all that bad of a method of construction, as there are houses in Europe that are over 400 years old (and still standing) that have wood foundations.............
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Well I was curious so I dug out the paperwork. This is how I read it.

15yr. full warranty against any leak or structual issues
30yr. full warranty against termite damage
30-75yr. prorated warranty

They will only repair any sort of damage at this point. However, they will not cover any landscaping, decks, etc. They also will not cover having to replace any finished portion of the basement interior walls.

For those that are curious this is the company that built my foundation.

http://edgebuilderwallpanels.com/?110000

This isnt what I was thinking of when I read 75yr. warranty. However Im not worried about it at all.

As for how the plywood is attached. Im assuming they are nailed, but I did read in the paperwork that every joint and also where they touch a stud has a waterproof sealent. Which I can see is actually true for this cavity I have open right now.
 
That kind of construction doesn't exist in eastern NC. Probably not in any of NC except maybe the mountains. It is interesting though, however in the end I wonder how much cheaper it is than a regular concrete footing and masonry wall.
 
Probably a lot cheaper than traditional methods, but I'd still stay clear of them. I've seen too many crap builders sell their junk and then go out of business. I'm not saying this method is crap, but it doesn't seem to be worth the risk to save a few bucks.
 
999yards said:
That kind of construction doesn't exist in eastern NC. Probably not in any of NC except maybe the mountains. It is interesting though, however in the end I wonder how much cheaper it is than a regular concrete footing and masonry wall.
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Well I actually have the original invoice. Now keep in mind this was 1994. But the entire foundation cost $11,692.00. Thats for roughly a 50' x 30' foundation. I have no idea if that was expensive or cheap for that day.

If I were to build my own house I would do poured walls.
 
In NC concrete was right at $50/yd. It's now a little over 100$ and CMU's were not quite as cheap by the same ratio For us. Wood foundations would not have been cost effective here. Obviously it was in your area.
 
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