Ping TJ- Really really OT

I remember I started this conversation before but I'm curious as to how
common this is. I'd email this but dangit, it keeps bouncing.

They're pouring the pilings/piers/holes today for our new house. It's at
least 30 10' holes filled with concrete all over where the slab is going
to go. The construction crew made a couple comments on how much concrete
we're using (as in, a helluva lot of money). Have you and DH noticed
any difference with these types of foundations opposed to other kind?

Our theory is that if we sink money into a good slab, it won't crack as
badly (it's a given it will here, nearly every house in the local area
cracks) and an extra $5000 now saves a third or more of the house asking
price if we ever sell later. Not to mention, it'll be just as good 50
years from now as it is new. Is it a sound theory or do they all go no
matter what you do?

Grace
asking resident house appraisal person

Howdy GraceCat,

I am not sure if I have ever seen this type of foundation 'round these parts. Of
course we do a lot of new construction inspections. The older homes here tend
to have the subfloor thing but I would imagine there would have to be pilings,
or some kind of foundation running around the perimeter of the house since it's
raised up and there is just dirt under the suspended sub floor in all the rooms.
I noticed this when my friend remodeled her 1910 Spanish bungalow. When we
started pulling up the old wood floor some of the subflooring was rotted and
when we touched it just fell down and went poof in the dirt! LOL.

When we built our house 4 years ago we had a post-tension foundation poured.
It's a common thing to do when you are building directly on the ground. Many of
the houses in Tucson do not have basements and are ranch style with foundation
right on the soil. We did not have any pilings they just grated and prepped the
build area, set up the forms, and then ran the steel (or tendons as they called
it) bar network throughout. Poured the concrete, then scored the concrete to
make it look like big, big tiles. That's my floor, the foundation. We filled in
the score lines with grout and then had the floor stained a mottled very subtle
gold, purple and rust color then they put a wax on it and polished away.

We had the tendons sticking out of the foundation on the outside all around the
house. But after they got the house all finished they can a cut them off.
Freaked me out, I thought is was going to stay like that. We do not have any
cracks in the house but we do have a slight hairline crack in the garage. I
think this is a common place to get a crack because of the weight of the
vehicles, just a guess. My office mate is having big probs with her
post-tension concrete floor (just like mine). Hers is cracking and actually
coming up in big chunks! Eek

Although I am not familiar with your type of foundation I would agree that a
good, solid foundation is well worth it.
Can you post pics of the progress or the plans. I love this stuff and want to
see. Only advice I can give to anyone building a house. Go and check on what
they are doing constantly. I went to my house everyday and caught some HUGE
mistakes in time for them to fix them before they did any more finishing to it!
Oh Lordy! You wonder if they even look at the plans sometimes, especially when
working on the finishes inside.

TJ (who wants to see stuff!!)


"GraceCat" wrote in message
...
I remember I started this conversation before but I'm curious as to how
common this is. I'd email this but dangit, it keeps bouncing.

They're pouring the pilings/piers/holes today for our new house. It's at
least 30 10' holes filled with concrete all over where the slab is going
to go. The construction crew made a couple comments on how much concrete
we're using (as in, a helluva lot of money). Have you and DH noticed
any difference with these types of foundations opposed to other kind?

Our theory is that if we sink money into a good slab, it won't crack as
badly (it's a given it will here, nearly every house in the local area
cracks) and an extra $5000 now saves a third or more of the house asking
price if we ever sell later. Not to mention, it'll be just as good 50
years from now as it is new. Is it a sound theory or do they all go no
matter what you do?

Grace
asking resident house appraisal person

I'll take some photos later today

We sunk two truckloads of concrete into the ground that the slab is
going to sit on yesterday. I think before they're finished it's going to
take another 5-7 trucks. The guy that's building this (and my father
trusts the man, the builder is the only reason we're not in our house
today, which we could have been, with another less busy person)...
anyway, the guy that's building this type of foundation said that in
theory, the house could lose part of the dirt it's sitting on and it
wouldn't hurt it a single bit.

I get the visual that the house will sit on this great big cement table
with numerous huge legs.

I've been out there alll day yetserday, today I've peeked out. There's
not much they're doing, just digging out the place for the rest of the
concrete. At the suggestion of a friend, I did ask for a notation to be
made on the plans. My bathtub is a large tub, a little less than 3 feet
across or so. I didn't want my faucet to end up on the far side where
I'd have to reeeeeeaaaaaaaaccccccchhhh across. So we moved that around.

But umm.. yeah. It looks like I'm stuck out here as long as they're here
Woohoo! LOL

Grace

"TJ and The Dust" wrote in message
...
Howdy GraceCat,

I am not sure if I have ever seen this type of foundation 'round these
parts. Of
course we do a lot of new construction inspections. The older homes
here tend
to have the subfloor thing but I would imagine there would have to be
pilings,
or some kind of foundation running around the perimeter of the house
since it's
raised up and there is just dirt under the suspended sub floor in all
the rooms.
I noticed this when my friend remodeled her 1910 Spanish bungalow.
When we
started pulling up the old wood floor some of the subflooring was
rotted and
when we touched it just fell down and went poof in the dirt! LOL.

When we built our house 4 years ago we had a post-tension foundation
poured.
It's a common thing to do when you are building directly on the
ground. Many of
the houses in Tucson do not have basements and are ranch style with
foundation
right on the soil. We did not have any pilings they just grated and
prepped the
build area, set up the forms, and then ran the steel (or tendons as
they called
it) bar network throughout. Poured the concrete, then scored the
concrete to
make it look like big, big tiles. That's my floor, the foundation. We
filled in
the score lines with grout and then had the floor stained a mottled
very subtle
gold, purple and rust color then they put a wax on it and polished
away.

We had the tendons sticking out of the foundation on the outside all
around the
house. But after they got the house all finished they can a cut them
off.
Freaked me out, I thought is was going to stay like that. We do not
have any
cracks in the house but we do have a slight hairline crack in the
garage. I
think this is a common place to get a crack because of the weight of
the
vehicles, just a guess. My office mate is having big probs with her
post-tension concrete floor (just like mine). Hers is cracking and
actually
coming up in big chunks! Eek

Although I am not familiar with your type of foundation I would agree
that a
good, solid foundation is well worth it.
Can you post pics of the progress or the plans. I love this stuff and
want to
see. Only advice I can give to anyone building a house. Go and check
on what
they are doing constantly. I went to my house everyday and caught
some HUGE
mistakes in time for them to fix them before they did any more
finishing to it!
Oh Lordy! You wonder if they even look at the plans sometimes,
especially when
working on the finishes inside.

TJ (who wants to see stuff!!)


"GraceCat" wrote in message
...
I remember I started this conversation before but I'm curious as to
how
common this is. I'd email this but dangit, it keeps bouncing.

They're pouring the pilings/piers/holes today for our new house.
It's at
least 30 10' holes filled with concrete all over where the slab is
going
to go. The construction crew made a couple comments on how much
concrete
we're using (as in, a helluva lot of money). Have you and DH
noticed
any difference with these types of foundations opposed to other
kind?

Our theory is that if we sink money into a good slab, it won't crack
as
badly (it's a given it will here, nearly every house in the local
area
cracks) and an extra $5000 now saves a third or more of the house
asking
price if we ever sell later. Not to mention, it'll be just as good
50
years from now as it is new. Is it a sound theory or do they all go
no
matter what you do?

Grace
asking resident house appraisal person

Hey Grace,
My parent's house in Victoria has a foundation that sounds like what you're
describing. There are columns of concrete going 8 to 12 feet into the
ground and the concrete has a ton of metal in it. The slab is also
reinforced with metal and it sits on top of the columns. But in my parent's
case, only half the house sits on flat land, the rest of it is suspended in
mid-air over a ravine. So in the ravine, the concrete columns extend about
30 feet above ground level until they become level with the rest of the
house. It's quite amazing.
They did it like that because it's in an earthquake zone and they figured it
would be the safest and longest lasting that way. My dad is quite proud of
the fact that the guy who did the concrete work on their house is the same
guy who did the concrete work on the LAX terminal building. I should see if
I can dig up a picture of the house somewhere.
I think you guys are doing the right thing. It is never wise to scrimp on
the foundation, at least it isn't if you plan on living there for more than
a couple of years! Good luck on the house, you must be so excited! On one
hand, I can't wait until we move to Australia and build our house, but on
the other hand, I'm nowhere near ready to leave Thailand yet. We'll see how
we feel in another couple of years.
--
Britta
Check out pictures of Vino at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album
ROT13 to reply

I'll take some photos later today

We sunk two truckloads of concrete into the ground that the slab is
going to sit on yesterday. I think before they're finished it's going to
take another 5-7 trucks. The guy that's building this (and my father
trusts the man, the builder is the only reason we're not in our house
today, which we could have been, with another less busy person)...
anyway, the guy that's building this type of foundation said that in
theory, the house could lose part of the dirt it's sitting on and it
wouldn't hurt it a single bit.


I think that's a very wise decision. We opted instead for the "waffle" type
iron running through the foundation. The house was built in 1982 and started
cracking two years ago, so obviously it didn't work like they told us it would.
One of the best decisions we did make was to spend a mere 1,000 extra to get
2x6 exterior walls instead of standard 2x4's. It allows for extra insulation,
but the best part is, with that you get 12-inch windowsills. Thhe cats love
this. ;-)

Sherry

I'll take some photos later today

We sunk two truckloads of concrete into the ground that the slab is
going to sit on yesterday. I think before they're finished it's going to
take another 5-7 trucks. The guy that's building this (and my father
trusts the man, the builder is the only reason we're not in our house
today, which we could have been, with another less busy person)...
anyway, the guy that's building this type of foundation said that in
theory, the house could lose part of the dirt it's sitting on and it
wouldn't hurt it a single bit.

Can't wait to see them. I think I now understand what you are doing. Lots of
money goes into the "dirt work" or site prep in the homes that are built on
non-level terrain here. There is also a hillside development ordinance that
makes it very, very expensive to "sprawl out". The fee per square foot over
what they think is acceptable is nuts. They want you to build your 4 or 5k
square foot house but make the teeniest footprint on the land. We have talked
to lots of builders and all have told us to expect the site prep alone to be
over $10,000 maybe even more if the granite doesn't break up easy, and that's
not including the septic system or the finished driveway up to the build area.
It's mostly decomposed granite that I can even break up with boot. We will have
to move about 10 saguaros and relocate them. You actually have to get
permission to move them, get them tagged all under the watchful eye of some
county employee and it ain't cheap. Thank god they don't have arms yet or it
would cost double. For every mesquite tree we take down (3 to be exact) we have
to plant 5 in it's place! Sheesh. Oh don't forget the Ferruginous Pygmy Owl
study that must be done by Game and Fish over a 4 month span. We are in Zone
One, highest level for this endangered little owl which may be taking up
residence in one of the saguaros we have to move which would mean removal and
relocation of the owls, all at our expense of course. And we are in the highest
light ordinance zone which means we can only put out a most teeny bit of
candelfoot power on the outdoor lighting. Think real, real dim. Oh, and all
the permits and the plans, we still need to find an architect. lot's more
expense.... and we haven't even poured the foundation yet! It's beyond
overwhelming.

TJ (who after reading all this again is thinking "what were we thinking")

Hugs and purrs,
--
Polonca & Soncek

"TJ and The Dust" wrote in message
...
snipWe are in Zone
One, highest level for this endangered little owl which may be taking up
residence in one of the saguaros we have to move which would mean removal
and
relocation of the owls, all at our expense of course. And we are in the
highest
light ordinance zone which means we can only put out a most teeny bit of
candelfoot power on the outdoor lighting. Think real, real dim. Oh, and
all
the permits and the plans, we still need to find an architect. lot's more
expense.... and we haven't even poured the foundation yet! It's beyond
overwhelming.

TJ (who after reading all this again is thinking "what were we thinking")

What I am going to advise you re the slab has nada to do with endangered
critters....do NOT plant any ficus or rubber trees in your yard......or you
will be very sorry, much later.



"polonca12000" wrote in message
...
: Hugs and purrs,
: --
: Polonca & Soncek
:
: "TJ and The Dust" wrote in message
: ...
: snipWe are in Zone
: One, highest level for this endangered little owl which may be taking up
: residence in one of the saguaros we have to move which would mean
removal
: and
: relocation of the owls, all at our expense of course. And we are in the
: highest
: light ordinance zone which means we can only put out a most teeny bit of
: candelfoot power on the outdoor lighting. Think real, real dim. Oh,
and
: all
: the permits and the plans, we still need to find an architect. lot's
more
: expense.... and we haven't even poured the foundation yet! It's beyond
: overwhelming.
:
: TJ (who after reading all this again is thinking "what were we
thinking")
:
:
:
:

Nope, I'm a crepe myrdle fan


Grace
who wonders how to spell myrdle

"Hopitus2" wrote in message
...
What I am going to advise you re the slab has nada to do with
endangered
critters....do NOT plant any ficus or rubber trees in your
yard......or you
will be very sorry, much later.



"polonca12000" wrote in message
...
: Hugs and purrs,
: --
: Polonca & Soncek
:
: "TJ and The Dust" wrote in message
: ...
: snipWe are in Zone
: One, highest level for this endangered little owl which may be
taking up
: residence in one of the saguaros we have to move which would mean
removal
: and
: relocation of the owls, all at our expense of course. And we are
in the
: highest
: light ordinance zone which means we can only put out a most teeny
bit of
: candelfoot power on the outdoor lighting. Think real, real dim.
Oh,
and
: all
: the permits and the plans, we still need to find an architect.
lot's
more
: expense.... and we haven't even poured the foundation yet! It's
beyond
: overwhelming.
:
: TJ (who after reading all this again is thinking "what were we
thinking")
:
:
:
:

Fortunately they are not on the approved plant list. All the plants have to be
most desertlike, native, low water use types. I will have lots of saguaros,
ocotillo, agave, mesquite and palo verde trees. They even go as far as to say
no lantana! Forget that, I love lantana and by bowl I will have it! Out
here it's the oleanders you need to worry about. Those sucker's roots seek out
water and often end up cracking your slab AND trashing your plumbing!

TJ

"Hopitus2" wrote in message
...
What I am going to advise you re the slab has nada to do with endangered
critters....do NOT plant any ficus or rubber trees in your yard......or you
will be very sorry, much later.



"polonca12000" wrote in message
...
: Hugs and purrs,
: --
: Polonca & Soncek
:
: "TJ and The Dust" wrote in message
: ...
: snipWe are in Zone
: One, highest level for this endangered little owl which may be taking up
: residence in one of the saguaros we have to move which would mean
removal
: and
: relocation of the owls, all at our expense of course. And we are in the
: highest
: light ordinance zone which means we can only put out a most teeny bit of
: candelfoot power on the outdoor lighting. Think real, real dim. Oh,
and
: all
: the permits and the plans, we still need to find an architect. lot's
more
: expense.... and we haven't even poured the foundation yet! It's beyond
: overwhelming.
:
: TJ (who after reading all this again is thinking "what were we
thinking")
:
:
:
: