Hi all,
A friend of mine wants to add a deck to three sides of his century old home.The problem is that the house was built on the side of a hill.The builder at the time(100 years ago)eased the slope using large stones,then fill over the top.This has worked fine for the house,but i can get only get about a foot deep for my sono tubes before i hit one of these two and a half foot boulders.I live in Canada and code requires min. four foot deep on these puppies for frost reasons.I’ve heard of using pillar blocks sitting on a foundation of two cubic feet of crushed gravel,but i’m not so sure it wont heave come seasons end.Any suggestions for this little problem would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks…Hammer66
Replies
Yes, I do.
Since you introduce this project as being for a friend, it implies that you might be doing it for free or on the cheap.
Sounds like he/she has transformed his/her desires into your problems. Time to re-group before the friendship ends.
Suppose you get a backhoe to dig good piers in, but that destabilizes this hillside full of fill. The foundation on the house suffers damage next spring because of it. Your friend names you in a lawsuit.
That is certainly a worst case scenario but caution is adviseable.
I do some porch posts on gravel fill and concrete cookies but I don't like to do that on hillsides. I can't really see all the conditions on site but you might want someone local to look and advise
Excellence is its own reward!
Thanks very much for the response Piffin.The last thing i want to do is cause the foundation to degrade.I thought of raising the grade on the sloped side of the house.The grade runs out about 12' from the house before dropping off the slope (on one side only,obviously)If that were done my only worry would be to waterproof the foundation...no?Its a field stone foundation,and the pointing is still in good condition.What do ya think?
anyways.....thanks again