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
The foundation spreads out the weight of the house over a much wider area than the (relatively) narrow footprint of each of the walls. Soil has a certain strength to it (that’s expressed as a force per unit area, i.e. pressure). By spreading out the force over a wide area we keep that pressure low.
It’s much like pushing one finger into sand (fairly easily) vs your whole hand (takes much more force). Or compare a road bike vs mountain bike tire in mud.
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