11-19-2009, 10:52 PM
tetters Wrote:Really cool Gary. How deep do you folks in Texas have to go in order to pour a proper foundation for a building like yours? I know up here in the Great White North we have to go at least four feet deep in order to avoid any frost up heave during the winter months when pouring a foundation.
No issues with frost heave down here. It rarely even gets below freezing, and certainly not long enough to freeze the ground. A small building with a low weight loading like this would typically need beams only about 12 inches in the ground with the top of the slab about 6 inches above grade. Since the new building will have a brick exterior, the beams are 15" in the ground, plus the slab is 15" above existing grade. The foundation is 15" above grade because every so often we get substantial flooding. About 10 years ago we had a bad flood. The water was about 6" deep in the entire area around here.... thousands of acres under 6" of water, even more in the low-lying areas.
In all, there are 28 yards of concrete in the foundation. About 11 yards is in the 4" thick slab, the other 17 is in the beams.
I'll be wrecking off forms tomorrow.
Three Foot Rule In Effect At All Times