I get that some foundations do have sinking issues, but how does having a foundation help? If the foundation is poured and solidifies, what stops the weight of the house from immediately sinking/tilting the foundation?
In: 2809
There’s plenty of great descriptions in here of standard foundation walls and retaining walls. I’ll just add that some houses are actually *screwed into the ground*. Recently I designed a small cottage that sits on a series of ‘helical piles’ (others are called micropiles). The contractor brings in a machine that torques the piles, which look like big dumb screws (like big big, 20′ long), and keeps screwing them down into the ground to the specified torque/depth. Then, large wood beams bolt into the exposed top of the piles. Conceivably, it’s possible to deconstruct the house in the future and ‘unscrew’ the piles again, making it a more sustainable foundation option for soils/climates that can bear it. [Here’s an explainer video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImW4htCUcwk).
Latest Answers