Block or Poured Foundation walls

[Anonymous]

Having a cottage built and will use blocks instead of poured. Is there a big difference in strength. Have heard that filling the blocks doesn't add much strength. Any opinions ?

[Wgoodrich]

Footings should be poured concrete at least 6" deep of concrete thickness installed at least 12 inches below undisturbed dirt and also installed below the frost line of your area. Both depth requirements must be met. Footings should be reinforced with rebar if you had to take out a stump or other reason you found loose dirt that the footing must bridge across where that loose dirt is. Remember a footing is not allowed to have more than a 10% slop on the bottom of the footing. Footing width is normally set according to soil consistency. If sand and gravel with light frame no brick veneer single story 8" wide footer required as a minimum. If clay with light frame no brick veneer single story 16" wide footer is required. All depends on what you are building and how many stories and also soil consistency with concern to high water table. This info is normally discovered by hiring a soil scientist to receive a soil report of your land where you plan to install a septic system or footing.

Foundations if not more than 4 feet high should be fine without concern whether light weight blocks or poured cements. Most commonly if less than 4 feet high no concern laying light weight blocks.

Elevation of your house first finished floor is required to be placed so that the bottom of the floor joists are at least 8" above seasonal high water table.

Hope this hits some of what you seek

Wg

[Anonymous]

Thanks Wg ,

You have covered my concerns.
The foundation runs from almost at grade to 5 ft deep as the cootage is being built into a hillside. My builder says local code allows for backfilling blocks to a height of 5' -6'' .
The structure is a modified A frame with a wood siding .

[Wgoodrich]

If you have a livable or usable space below like a basement you should install a 4" perimeter drain around the footing so that the top of the drain is even with the top of the footing. Let the ends of the drain by gravity remote of the cabin. This wll keep subsurface water down below the footing to keep that subsurface water from inside you fruit celler or basement or crawl area.

Also if you are building in a hillside then you should use a dirt levey or swail to direct surface water away from draining down the hill into your cabin.

Hope this gives you some ideas

Wg