Most
likely, your home happens to be your
biggest investment in your portfolio.
Like any investment, you need to start
with a solid foundation. Building the
foundation of your house is one of the
most important tasks while building your
house. If the foundation is not properly
laid then the entire structure will be
unstable. A well-laid foundation is
absolutely essential for a house.
Failure to install appropriate
foundations underneath can result in
shifting, or even destruction of a
structure under adverse weather
conditions. Depending on the area of the
country you are in, earthquakes, frost,
and moisture must all be taken into
account when thinking about building
foundations.
Every masterful architectural structure
is built on solid foundations that will
ensure the longevity of the building or
home over time.
A conventional perimeter foundation has
a poured concrete wall supported by a
poured concrete footing. Both are
strengthened by steel reinforcing rods
(sometimes called rebar). This type of
foundation is used in connection with
both raised floors and slabs.
Depending
upon when and where a house was built,
the foundation may be made of stone,
brick, preservative-treated lumber,
concrete block or poured concrete. By
far the most common material for
foundations is concrete.
A house needs a foundation to shoulder
its considerable weight, provide a flat
and level base for construction and
separate wood-based materials from
contact with the ground-contact that
would otherwise cause rot and allow
termite infestation.
Excavating & Site Work
We offer Site-Work if required. Site
work is the placement of products,
materials, utilities and accessories
that go into the land around the house,
or on the site that the house will be
built on.
There's always a few things to consider
when excavation gets underway.
Definitely keep an eye on the trees
you've decided to save.
Key parts with Site-Work include
breaking ground where the footing and
foundation will be poured along with
drainage. Crushed stone plays a key role
for both drainage and a driveway giving
contractors and yourself access to your
future home.
Footings
The bottom part of a foundation is
called a footing (or footer). The
footing is generally wider than the
foundation wall and is located about 12
inches below the frost line (the average
depth at which soil freezes year after
year). The footing distributes the
house's weight to prevent future
settling or movement.
Drainage
For the drainage system that protects
the foundation, a drain tile is
installed across the footings at several
points, embedded right in the concrete.
Drain tiles are ran around the outside
of the footings to keep water from
collecting at the bottom of the panels.
The water is then diverted down into pea
rock where it drains away.
Specifics
Foundation walls are one of the most
important structural elements of your
home. They must be strong and supported
well before you place vast amounts of
heavy soil against them. The backfill
soil can quickly crack or push in a
concrete wall that is not strong enough
to resist the force of the dirt.
Backfill dirt that is placed against the
foundation wall causes a lateral or
sideways movement. Vertical steel bars
add enormous strength to poured concrete
and help prevent horizontal cracks that
are caused by soil pressures. Lateral
pressure can also be caused by heavy
machinery that places the dirt against
the walls. An inexperienced heavy
equipment operator can crack a new
foundation wall by pushing dirt into the
void space against the wall instead of
gently dropping it in from above.
Concrete
Concrete has been a successful building
material for centuries. Concrete
foundations need to be durable to
support the building that is built
above. Poured concrete foundation walls
come in all sizes, thickness, heights
and widths. As concrete gets taller, it
must get thicker. All of these
dimensions are interrelated.
We use only Certified Concrete normally
3000-3500PSI and use local suppliers.
http://www.tilconct.com/redimix.htm
Concrete is a mystical building
material. It often arrives at a jobsite
in a truck pre-mixed and ready to pour.
Typically it has the consistency of
cooked oatmeal, but hours later it
resembles damp solid rock. This
transformation happens because of a
chemical reaction that starts to happen
the instant water is added to the
Portland cement powder. The hydration
chemical reaction causes microscopic
crystals to grow that connect all of the
sand and gravel to one another.
The trouble is, this chemical reaction
continues for weeks and even months
after the concrete truck leaves the
jobsite. In fact, standard concrete that
is moist cured under ideal conditions
often only achieves 40-45 percent of its
design strength after three days. After
seven days, it should hit 75 percent of
its final design strength. To get to
100% of it design strength, you often
have to wait 28 days or more. These
numbers assume temperatures at or near
70F.
In cold weather the strength-building
process can slow considerably and even
stop completely if the temperature gets
very cold. Once the weather warms up,
the concrete starts to strengthen again
on its own so long as it still retains
moisture. Normally, additives are mixed
when pouring during cold months. |
