*
Hello- I will soon be digging the footers for our new home here in St, Simons Island, Ga. I am a DIY’fer with moderate experience. The design is called the Gulf Coast Cottage (Southern Living plans), and is a 2500 sq. ft. design on one level, with a wrap around porch and a big ol hipped roof.The house sits up on concrete piers that are tied into individual footings. due to the nature of the soil here {very sandy,porous, and with occasional marsh muck} I am of course concerned about settling. Our lot is fairly low, about 8 ft above MSL. We had the existing palmettos ripped out back in June and added back many loads of fill, which was compacted by the dozers as it was dumped (June,2000}My guess is they added 4 ft. above the undisturbed earth.Our plan is to have the garage underneath the house. I have a few questions- – IF there is a minimum of organic stuff in the fill, and with average rainfall, how important is it to wait and how long should you wait before pouring foundation? Why is it important to pour the slab for the garage around the piers instead of pouring the footers for the piers and the slab all in the ame pour? Id like to hear any other comments or experiences any of yall have had with similiar situations. I do plan to consult with an engineer before proceding but I feel I would be better prepared after hearing many other opinions. I have lurked around this forum for a couple of years now, and really have enjoyed it. Thank you all in advance. I have several other questions about this house to be posted on later threads. Thanks again.
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
A standardized approach, quick-to-install hardware, and a simplified design make building custom casework cost-effective.
Featured Video
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
*
Charles,
You should consider driving pilings around the perimeter of your slab and a few spaced in the center of your slab, depending on the size of your slab. Then cap your pilings with grade beams. These will become your footings, (not footers). Grade and compact to the top of these footings and then pour your slab. I don't know what palmettos are. I thought they were trees, but it sounds like your describing fill. I'm also not familiar with "organic stuff" but I'm always willing to learn something new. Please explain. I live in south jersey and have done quite a bit of work along the coast where the soil is similar to yours. You can lay the pilings out where your piers are going to be. This will eliminate the need to pour your slab around your piers. But to answer your question, some people pour the slab around the piers to allow for heaving and settling without disturbing the main structure. Obviously, a medium needs to be placed between the two. This is called a floating slab and there are some other paticulars that go along with this type of construction. Too much for me to get into. I would also like to state that I am not a professional engineer and I strongly recommend that you seek professional advice. My sugesstions are only a means to help you pursue different ways of investigating different construction techniques. TC
*Sorry Charles, only a soils/structural engineer is qualified to answer your questions with any credibility, AFTER TESTING THE EXISTING SITE CONDITIONS.I cannot see your lot, much less your soil conditions and I doubt that anyone here can see it either.Feel free to ask specifics once you get past this very important step.Gabe
*Charles,Nice plan http://www.southernliving.com/hp/gulfcoastcottage.asp I just hope you have figgured out how you will get up to the porch when it is on nine foot piers.I think I would start with a visit to the local planning authority. Building along the ocean and in areas subject to tidal surge and hurricanes is subject to requirements that you don't see in other areas.TC has outlined one possible approach; pilings and grade beams. Your engineer may also recommend digging down to undisturbed soil and placing individual footings for your pilings. No matter which way you go, these are big jobs that require a lot of hard labor and specialized equipment. For that reason I suggest you talk with contractors who do this kind of work. They will have the equipment, forms, crew and knowledge to get you out of the ground (sand?) and ready for fraiming in a week or two.Building a house yourself is a race between completion and burnout. If you burnout before you get it done you will hate the place forever. The secret to avoiding burnout is to know what you can reasonably do yourself and what you need to hire out. Good luck,Steve Hansen
*
Thank you all for responding. TC- Palmettos are a palm-like shrub indigenous to this area, They have an elaborate root system that when extracted leave you with about one foot less grade level. By organic stuff I was refering to any dead roots, leaves, etc. that might be brought in along with the fill and covered up, only to rot over time and create air cavities that would eventually compress from the weight of the fill and or structure, and cause settling. I would like to know more about grade beams. Are they the same thing as a continious footing. BTW around here folks use "footer" and "footing" interchangibly . Kinda like sheeting and sheathing I guess. Let me know if I'm wrong on that. The last three (only three) houses I built the plans called for piers, and I put them in the places they were called for but I connected the all with a trench, re- bar etc,--Thats what I always called a continuous footer. Gabe - Thanks for coming in. I definately wont do a thing without some professional help. I guess what I was trying to ask before was how long is disturbed earth considered disturbed once it has been disturbed. BTW yall probably noticed this sam post over in Construction Techniques where it really belongs- I posted it twice by mistake! sorry. One of the main reasons I was asking about slabs and piers was the issue of moisture sealing. I explained it over there. Steve-- thanks for posting the link! Great idea. Stay tuned, later I will have a few questions about roof framing this same plan.
*
Charles,
Footer and footing are used interchangably around here too. A footer or footing transfers the load it carries directly to the ground that it rests on. A footer is usually wider than it is tall. A grade beam carries the load to pilings which transfer the load to stable ground some distance below the surface. Grade beams are typically taller than they are wide. The size and placement of reinforcing rod in a grade beam is critical.
For the price of two yards of concrete you can buy one hour's worth of a civil engineer's time. When left to our own devices, most of us over build. An engineer can give you a couple of options and will most certainly save you some bucks in the end.
Back in my college days I helped a friend clear a lot near Tampa. Lots of palmettos. Dirty work.
Have not been to St Simons Island. Sounds like a neat place. How far are you from the beach?
Steve
*
Hello- I will soon be digging the footers for our new home here in St, Simons Island, Ga. I am a DIY'fer with moderate experience. The design is called the Gulf Coast Cottage (Southern Living plans), and is a 2500 sq. ft. design on one level, with a wrap around porch and a big ol hipped roof.The house sits up on concrete piers that are tied into individual footings. due to the nature of the soil here {very sandy,porous, and with occasional marsh muck} I am of course concerned about settling. Our lot is fairly low, about 8 ft above MSL. We had the existing palmettos ripped out back in June and added back many loads of fill, which was compacted by the dozers as it was dumped (June,2000}My guess is they added 4 ft. above the undisturbed earth.Our plan is to have the garage underneath the house. I have a few questions- - IF there is a minimum of organic stuff in the fill, and with average rainfall, how important is it to wait and how long should you wait before pouring foundation? Why is it important to pour the slab for the garage around the piers instead of pouring the footers for the piers and the slab all in the ame pour? Id like to hear any other comments or experiences any of yall have had with similiar situations. I do plan to consult with an engineer before proceding but I feel I would be better prepared after hearing many other opinions. I have lurked around this forum for a couple of years now, and really have enjoyed it. Thank you all in advance. I have several other questions about this house to be posted on later threads. Thanks again.