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How would the foundation be constructed for a house with a basement under half of the house and
crawlspace under the other half. In my area
concrete footings and block walls are generally
used for basements and crawl spaces. The frostline
is only a few inches deep. The lot is mildly sloped, and the basement will go on the low side. If there is a footing with the basement wall resting on it, and a footing up at the level of top of the basement wall, on which the crawlspace part of the house is resting, how would the two levels of the house tied together? Would the footing on the crawlspace section be tied to the top of the basement block wall?
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Replies
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dan,
The footings for both your basement section and crawl space section would be connected by what is commonly called a "lead wall". Since the basement footing is below or deeper than your crawl space footing a common method is to trench appx. 4' beyond your basement footings at the same level, and pour up to the bottom of your crawl space footings. This approach helps assure that the foundation load(s) are spread more evenly, helping to eliminate or minimize differential settlement between the two foundation types. Also using metal reinforcing rods (rebar) will help tie the two foundations together, and help transfer loads more uniformly. Maybe someone knows of a good graphic reference for this detail, as it may be easier to explain in this manner. Hope this helps.
*Dan,Basement space is relatively cheap to build. Space is always useful. If you don't need it now you will someday. Price out the basement both ways, half and full. You may be surprised at how little more a full basement will cost. Steve
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How would the foundation be constructed for a house with a basement under half of the house and
crawlspace under the other half. In my area
concrete footings and block walls are generally
used for basements and crawl spaces. The frostline
is only a few inches deep. The lot is mildly sloped, and the basement will go on the low side. If there is a footing with the basement wall resting on it, and a footing up at the level of top of the basement wall, on which the crawlspace part of the house is resting, how would the two levels of the house tied together? Would the footing on the crawlspace section be tied to the top of the basement block wall?