I see two types of foundations where building up is required
what looks like driven pile posts (thought they may just be put into the ground a very short way)
and
brick or cement blocks stacked up 8 – 10 ft-
will the cement blocks fails when the foundations loosens up- seems the soils would move when flooded and the brick’block foundation would fail?
Anyone seen/had any experience
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
The RainStick system cleans and reuses shower water for 80% less water and energy use than standard low-flow fixtures.
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
The piling house does use well anchored piles. The engineer will tell you how deep, depending on soil conditions.
The stem wall house has the "box" full of dirt so it can't blow out. When you have a house over empty space the walls are designed to equalize, either with vents or the wall blows out only leaving the piles..
is the box the area under the house/ seems a gargare opening would let the dirt wash out?
"111224.3 in reply to 111224.2
is the box the area under the house/ seems a garage opening would let the dirt wash out?" Separate boxes. The footer actually encompasses all of the block walls. so the dirt filled box under the house is separate from the "at grade" garage floor. The garage itself may have a couple of feet of water in while the house, 4 or 5 courses of block higher, stays dry.
I may have some better pictures of the stem walls from the series I took to show "Ufer" ground electrodes. When I get a minute I will look.http://esteroriverheights.com/electrical/ufer.jpgThe Ufer is in the garage wall (where the panel goes) and you can see the vents in the middle picture.
still having mental problems-
foundation down in the dirt (I guess it has to be deeper in a flood zone than a non flood zone foundation??)
block wall sits on the foundation
house sits on the block wall like 8 ft above ground if you wish to park under it?You'd think in soil (not rock) the piling would be better, as when the Foundation is under water any shift at all would cause cracks in the brittle block walls?
If you are parking under a house it is a piling house. If there are walls, expect them to blow out. If your garage floor is a "split level" kinda thing (3-4' down) it will usually be a stem wall with the box under the house full of dirt. The garage may flood but it is not supposed to be above the "FEMA" level of the house FF.
That Gilchrist texas house (last house standing) is an example of a properly built piling house. The under house garage is gone, the porch is gone but the "house" is still there.
BTW look at all the steel coming up out of those footers and the steel in the hole. The wall isn't going to be "brittle". There is a solid concrete cell with a #5 in it at least every 4 feet or so and around every opening.
There's another type besides the pile driven poles or the Concrete block placed on the footer. The type my XDH and I used on our floodplain home we built in SC was a poured footer which was 36inches below grade at its TOP horizontal; and rebar reinforced (of course) but from that footer in 52 locations were poured in place concrete piers - with steel rebar and collars tied before wrapped with 4 form panels, then came the pump grade concrete and vibrator...then the angle bar insertion for tying to the joists later.
Anyway- the footing is, or was, below grade. The piers were each attached to the footing and rose thru grade and upwards to 15' abv grade.
Once the house was done - We went ahead and poured a concrete slab at grade for underneath parking and at same time as we poured the driveways. Installed "breakaway" wall panels underneath at center section's part of that underneath house space, so that we would have some "lockable storage" for all the tools that hung around at the house instead of going in/out of comm'l storage locations to jobsites.
"Be yourself...everyone else is
already taken." — Unknown author
Huge bridges have been built on piles. Piles placed correctly can support a huge load.