Load-bearing internal walls should have a foundation or means of support that transfers loads safely to a foundation. In Seismic Design Categories D0, D1, and D2, interior footings supporting bearing or bracing walls and cast monolithically with a slab on grade must extend to a depth of not less than 12 inches (305 mm) below the top of the slab. Contractors should place footings under every wall bearing a load, such as basement walls and the exterior foundation. Wall footings are pad or spread and strip footings used to support structural or nonstructural walls to transmit and distribute loads to the soil in a manner that is safe for the soil.
The length of the footing is typically determined by the size of the wall or column it supports, while the footing width is typically determined by the soil bearing capacity and the soil bearing capacity. Footings are constructed, sized, and placed to support foundations and prevent settling. Soil conditions, footing dimensions, and common problems affect footing design and performance.
In Ontario Canada, structural walls can be buried in slabs, treated or wrapped in poly at the bottom. For interior walls bearing walls, a footing directly under the slab is placed to support the bearing wall. No stem wall is used for on-site construction. If the project does not require an interior bearing wall, footings can be either plane concrete footing or reinforced concrete footing, both requiring 8″ thickness.
In most scenarios, insulation is fitted beneath the floor slab, making it non-load bearing bar from stud walls. To determine if an internal wall has foundations, tap it and check if it sounds hollow. Perimeter footings must be below 30″. Thickened slab bell footings are used in almost every project with shear or load-bearing interior walls.
📹 😮🚫FOOTINGS missing under load bearing walls NEW BUILD A trick to find missing#footing under#concrete
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Concrete Settlement and Improper Backfill In the construction trades there is a term used that is …
📹 Don’t Build Like This, Footer Needs Drainage
Every Footer Needs Drainage. Its just that simple. So many general contractors do a great job of building, but do not understand …
Where I live in Michigan, even though we get a lot of rain. You often find well drained soil. Some areas only require the proper grade to remain dry. However the foundation shown here would be illegal it wouldn’t be very stable in regard to frost heave. It would only be acceptable for something like a garage. Of course it wouldn’t be legal for anything more than a shed. For most structures here most people dig about 4 feet 42″ being the legal requirement. In regards to drainage it really should be a case by case thing. Our soil was moved around by the glaciers so conditions are extremely variable. We even have a type of sand that’s resistant to frost heave. We are still legally required to dig deep footings in those locations.
I showed my buddy this article. We live in Tennessee and we get alot of rain. When I seen his house getting built it looked like this. I told him hey the apple drains dude would say you need footer drainage. My buddy told me no it would be o.k because of what the build company was telling him. 8 months later his hard wood floors are gone. So much water backed up and got in his house.
In some norther states, the foundation is about 42-48″ deep, preferably below the frost line and 12″ wide. Any additions within 10 feet of the house also need to follow this rule. If you build a detached garage that is farther than 10 feet from the house, then the footer can be 1 foot deep by 1 foot wide, 4 inches above grade. Every state is different, so the best place to know is from the local building department.
If the foundation pad was graded, where you have a constant 2 degree drop outwards, there would be no issue. And as a backup French drains could be installed around the outter perimeter of the foundation, again dropping so many degrees as the drain is layed away from the house there will be no water damage. The more important thing is to possibly have the foundation pad graded where you will have a run off away from your home.
I have only seen it being done this way in the USA. In Europe the footer typically would come up at least a foot higher than the ground level. It would be level and smooth. Then there will be a layer of waterproofing membrane on top of the footer to prevent ground water being wicked up by the footer and the wall. (Even concrete can wick up water from the ground through capillary action.) Then the blocks will be laid over the waterproofing membrane. In the US most of the houses tend to sit way too close to the ground.
A 8 inch footer is a weak footer depending on where in Florida this was built. What is the water table depth? What are the under laying soils? Florida’s soils vary from coast to coast aswell water table depths. Ive seen no footers to over 5 ft footers it really depends on the area and also the contractor assigned the project.
This is a big problem in the Philippines they build all the houses like this. and they’re hollow blocks they don’t fill the joints with mortar and in some cases the blocks aren’t straight they look like steps in your house they aren’t straight and when you tell the they say we render the level 5 over the front so it doesn’t mater if they are straight. But great article you even complimented the workers even though the job maybe sub par,
The biggest clue something is off is they obviously poured the footer without forms. The form allows the elevation and level and finish to be close to perfect. I wonder how they made the vertical rebar stand up straight. Probably wasn’t due to the tie to the horizontal. Looks like a “save a penny” construction. How the heck did the get the corners square and far opposite corners to be level just dumping concrete on dirt in an open trench. Bleah.
Umm no. This is not a basement, this is going to be a crawlspace. There is no way they’re building a full basement above grade here. This is evidently in the south. It’s very sandy, and it looked like it’s pretty flat land. It’s a crawlspace like most homes in the south set on. There most likely will not be a concrete floor poured in there! It’ll be gravel or covered in plastic. *He’s telling us it’s Florida. Maybe a slab house?
This article is terrible. I’m not sure what all the comments are about the builder not using forms or are people just plain dumb? You don’t need pretty forms to have a solid footing. Now I will admit, whoever did this footing did a sloppy job. They could have at least made it level all around and made the top smooth so it would be easier to get the block laid out level. Depending on soil PSI, that footer could be plenty strong enough at 16″x8″ if it’s 1 story. As far as the rest of the article, it would be nice to have some explanation as to how the drian should be done. A basic who, what, when, where and why would be great. Where does the drain get installed. What kind of drain? Some pictures or a drawing or SOMETHING would definitely be helpful instead of saying it’s wrong over and over and over.
This guy has little to no knowledge of the construction process. First off i wouldnt call this particular footing a good job due to how uneven the surface is. The rebars sticking out of the footing are a hold down that will connect the roof to the footing, as they will extend up thru the block walls to the roof level. As for a drainage system, it is common to install them at the footing level should they be necessary. Assuming of coarse there is ample slope on the property to allow it to drain naturally. The type of soil is also very important as to wether or not a drain is even necessary. In this case it appears the soil is very sandy, indicating good natural drainage of the soil alone even without a drainage system. The final/finish grade level around the perimeter of the home should be approximately 8″ minimum below the finish floor level. At this point he has no knowledge as to where that will be, so again he is just showing his ignorance as to the process.
You should have said that at this site, the top of the footer has not been smoothed, threw dirt over concrete which has not dried, and this footer is uneven in many places. “A great job”? Pathetic!!!! Then there’s all of that extra soil where the crawl space will be poured, all of it should have been removed so as to allow room for the slab to get poured right to the footer and not above it by four, five or more inches. Whoever did that footer should be sued for the cost of installing a french drain. Knowing that the site is sloped toward the foundation, the installer should have informed the homeowner, ‘Hey, it would be better to do some excavation to have the water flow away from or around the foundation prior to installation of the footer to eliminate water intrusion in the first place.’ Just FYI
This looks like the house they’re building next door, upper-middle TN. The house they tore down on the same spot had a sump pump and they are 2-3 feet below grade from my house. I have not seen water pooling at the construction site, so maybe they’ll get lucky. But it’s a typical builder house, no going beyond basic code. And certainly no foundation tile being used.
“REBARB”? “FOOTER”? I’ve been a structural building inspector for over 20 years and I must correct you sir. It is called; “REBAR” and “FOOTING”. It is short for reinforcing bar or reinforcing rod. The term footer is not a footing.The same goes for people saying “MASONARY”. It’s called “MASONRY”. Great explanation though for the reason behind footing drainage by the way! Thanks for showing the article.
That was very educational. Well I started to do a French design at my house. The rain does collect at the fence. So I dug it out about 100ft by myself and now I am going to back off the garage and connect the drain pipe from the garage and the side of the house to the street. I see what you mean about digging in water. I actually don’t mind. I wish I could send you a picture. A good rain floods my yard and the neighbors yard like A small lake because the people behind us built up their yard so high all the rain runs in our yard. Thank you for your time
Wanna see the end of this build My Hope is your assuming they are putting the build on top of the Foundation (4 courses of block, 2-8) Maybe they are building it up 10’Foot above Water table then planned on Backfill? We do this all the time because the water table is so high. Hope you have a recon of your “They will have Problems here, Any where in the world” Because I think you are assuming the project, Maybe not hold it’s structure. Maybe you are Correct. Wanna see this Project from this point to Joist being planted. Many Projects we have done start with the Foundation below “SEA-Level” and we build the Concrete wider and thicker …Sometime 2′ deep and 4 foot wide Bring the block up 2-8 then put the drain in on the outside with plenty of course stone below and above (6″-8″) with Drainage Felt to allow water without MUD, Debris I’m sure you know the Drill but if you are right on this one I will be amazed. Please hit us up with the final.
Thank you sir!! We live in a home we got at auction that was rotted from roof to seal plate.. there is no drain pipe around the 5ft crawl space that’s on a slope from the front end of the house. The back end is an addition put in at some point, w/o Drain. The crawl space stays wet with deep water, unleveled dirt and no place for water to escape. A French drainage system appears to be all around the front end, but not the back. This answered my question weather to add one. The place we have was only built in 91 so it’s just crap construction or a diy. Im guessing if we don’t correct the drainage the new roof that was installed prior to me living here will be shot in a matter of time. Same as the last one that was rotted from the wet crawlspace to the roof.
I think drainage has a lot to do with geographical location. I’m in Hi- Desert Rocky mountains and the ground is rocky, ancient sea bed. When there is water present. It tends to flow in obvious areas . But if i were building it anywhere close to sea level. For sure french drain installation to prevent water penetration.
Just formed up a footer on a side job I’m helping somebody with. Here in Salt lake county area ours have to be down a minimum 30″ below grade and 10 inches thick. I didn’t think about drainage while we were forming but now that I have I will mention it and see if the guys want to put in a French drain
the block is 8″ the footing is 16″ so the draintile will be laid against the block and on top of the footing. The land has fall to it because of the jumps. So the draintile can be daylighted. No water should ever get to the finished floor. I dont see this house ever having a problem with water if its draintile right. I’m guessing florida doesn’t have a frost line. I wouldnt use block for a foundation because block will get soft if its constantly wet and code in Virginia makes you fill every other void with concrete. Why not just do poured walls.
Let’s look at that rebar….. obviously they are going to block up more than one to two rows. Once they do that they may drain tile around the perimeter, but I’m betting not needed as they will bring in material so all drainage will flow away from the house. Really kind of unprofessional to go to somebody’s construction site and discuss what they are doing wrong when you don’t know what the plan is. However putting in drain tile will never hurt anything, but sometimes not needed if elevation of structure is properly planned.
If the footer is only 8″ deep, how deep would you put the French drain beside it? & would you put the French drain on top of gravel or just drain fabric? Isn’t the reason the footer is 8″ deep is due to the frost line? If you dig up dirt beside it & replace with gravel & drain pipe would that compromise that 8″ frontline ? Thank you for making these articles!
Talk about tile, more talk and finish with talking! I got it! You like to talk and tile something is needed but I am allergic to tile. I can even draw a picture of tile, or show you a photo of tile, but I will talk about tile. Got it. Nothing to see here folks, move along! Don’t waist your time, click on the next article. Unless you need to sleep!