Site Work and Foundations

Carpenter Joseph Truini offers construction details for four types of basic, on-grade foundations suitable for backyard buildings by Joseph Truini

by John Spier

The bones beneath concrete's muscle, rebar has to be cut, bent and tied properly to do its job by Howard Stein

Dry-laid walls reinforced with steel and filled with concrete make a weathertight, bugproof house by Fred Leadbeater

Assembled with regular building skills, ICFs form airtight, insulating concrete walls that finish with standard materials by Andy Engel

They hold up the house, hold back the earth and keep out the water. If they're not level and square, you may end up custom-cutting every rafter. by Rick Arnold, Mike Guertin

Fill up a trench with concrete -- what's to know? If a house is going to stand on those little sidewalks, they'd better be straight, level and correctly placed. by Rick Arnold, Mike Guertin

by Thor Matteson

by John Carroll

Get evenly spaced courses and consistent mortar joints by using the proper layout, mortar consistency and troweling techniques by John Carroll

Used overseas successfully for decades, this innovative foundation system uses carefully placed insulation and a slab with integral footings instead of conventional deep frost walls by Christopher R. Kendall

by Robert L. Brungraber

New products from the latest technologies offer more effective alternatives to slopping sticky tar onto new foundations by Bruce Greenlaw

Tips on ordering, placing, screeding, floating and finishing by Carl Hagstrom