subject: Best Way To Do Floor Foundation [print this page] All types of home construction whether DIY or contractor project have some type of floor foundation incorporated in the construction. The floor foundations purpose and use is to support the entire structure and prevent the house from slipping, settling and sliding. In residential construction, there are different types of floor foundations used. There are three commonly used floor foundations namely crawl spaces, basements and concrete slabs.
When you need the permit for the floor foundation, you need to have the building code and you can find it out when you talk to a building code inspector especially when you are done choosing the type of floor foundation you are going to use. There are also different minimum requirements for footings and other items depending on which area you belonged to.
Depending on the type of floor foundation that you are going to construct, the depth of the excavation will depend on it. You need to know the exact frost line for the area where you lived in so that you know how deep you are going to construct the floor foundation. The footing will be act as the base for the foundation wall, which will support the weight of the entire house. The footing should be constructed deep enough so that it will rest on solid soil.
Most DIY home building kits suggest this so that the footing will be below frost line therefore having a good base for the foundation wall. The maximum depth that the soil freezes is the frost line and this is the area where you should not construct your footing. In most cases, the footing may be around 50 inches or more below the ground and the width should be twice the thickness of the foundation wall.
In a DIY home construction, the role of the foundation wall is to bridge the gap between the footings (below the frost line and the first floor framing) so that it will become stable. The one located at ground level is the first floor framing. The wall foundation can either be creating by installing forms on footing and concrete will fill it in or utilizing cinder blocks, which is actually the most common approach.
You can find simple guidelines from DIY home building kits that you can refer to. You can also research for more information in the internet or in your local library so that you can start your DIY home project soon.
