I am giving though to building a cottage in Canada and would like to to consider building it on piers. My current shop is a pole building with an elevated floor and I insulated the joist cavities and boxed them in on the under side. Though it would most likely be a 3 season home what would it take to handle the water system coming up through the under side of the floor system to keep it from freezing?
The other reason for considering this type of foundationis cost as the ground is mostly rock.
So let me hear your advice and ideas.
Replies
bump
I think it is a great idea. Alot of cottages are built on piers. Lots of storage space!
There are several questions before an answer can be given. Even if you have electricity it can go off.
Where is the water coming from?
Are the lines below the frost level?
One solution that I know works is one that a cabin owner who lived on an island and wanted occasional use in the winter but didn't want to heat it year round. He installed a barrel in the roof and designed the plumbing so it could drain down to a single faucet. ( designed traps and indoor bogs need separate handling). He would arrive, start the wood stove and heat up the interior. Then he took his hose and water pump to a hole he had bored in the ice. He filled the barrel and had enough water for the week-end. Drain the barrel and close up until the next time. Obviously the roof was designed to support 600 pounds.
Cheers
Poorsh
I am assuming you will have a well. Unless the well is installed first and you build over it the line will come in horizontal from the vertical casing. I have never seen a well under a structure, don't mean it isn't done though.
To keep the line from freezing, find out what the frost line is to start with. Then cut the casing at this height and 90 over inside the building. Now you 90 up from there and insulate the last vertical piece to the underside of the subfloor.The trenches are filled and the dirt is the insulation on the horizontal pipe.
If you decide on a basement, even if it is very small then the last vertical is eliminated. The 90 horizontal is then bushed down to the proper size pipe and goes thru the wall to the pump.If at all possible I would go this route for the utilities.
mike
". Then cut the casing at this height "NO!The casing must extend above ground level to keep surface pollution from contaminating the well.
There is a fitting called a pitless that makes this change from verticle in well to horizontal supply line.
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I 'm not sure you understood what I was saying. The well casing would be cut off at a height below the frost line and 90° in thru the foundation wall. Usually the line coming thru is 2" or less depending on the pump inlet.Nothing is exposed to groundwater.I have seen the casing capped off above ground,I assume that there is a tee, one leg 90° to the foundation wall and the other above ground anfd capped. I suppose that is what you refer to.This is unusual here, most of the time you can't tell if there is a well or city water.
When I was young I worked for a well driller, about two years. I liked the job but found out I was allergic to bentonite clay. Since there is no way to avoid it I had to quit.
mike
If you cut the casing below frost line and 90 it to the side, how are you going to replace that submersible pump when it dies? The pitless adapter Piffin mentioned is the way to go. You run the casing above grade and fit the adapter through a hole in the side of the last length of casing. The offset line is connected to the adapter on the outside of the casing before it is lowered, and the vertical line up from the pump is connected via a sliding dovetail assembly inside the casing. Very slick. You do not need a pit to access this connection, which is the reason for the name.Bill
We almost never see casings cut off below grade. ususally they get a sanitary cap and covered over when extensive grading of the site happens later in life. A new well always stand above grade here. Once buried, you have a devil of a time pulling the pump to replace it.
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The most obvious way to keep the water line from freezing is to encase it in a heated enclosure. A coworker did that when he lived above an unheated garage and IIRC it worked well (when the power was on). It would be nice to enclose the waste line as well although they seem to survive without ( if you don't have a clog and backup, a slow drip, lots of wind chill etc.). You could have "heat line" (?) installed inside the line from the well and insulate the pipe but I haven't tried that so... . We did one job years ago with the old plastic pipe with built in heating element. The HO (against my advice) insulated the line and it actually melted.
I just finished building my Canadian cottage. Same situation with bedrock at grade, sloping site. I built on piers but clad the sides with metal panels. As to floor insulation- I doubled the bottom wall plates, put 2" extruded down on top of the subfloor, then installed another subfloor. All plumbing lines run through the walls, within the cottage. So, if I keep the cottage warm, no lines freeze. I blow the lines clear to shut things down.
Water comes from lake, through a special valve which purges air out of the line, then let's it back in when pump goes off, thereby draining the line. There is a submersible pump in the lake (drilled out the foot valve). It works great. Right now I pull the pump just before freeze-up, then drop back in after ice out. When running the line I installed heat traced pipe so I could leave it in all year if I wanted to. It is only subject to freezing where it goes through the ice.
Given the extent of bedrock removal which would have had to occur for a full foundation, I think the pier foundation saved me around $20k.
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