My house construction has started. I can't tell a lot from the pic my girlfriend sent. But there seems to be no basement. This house will have a walkout basement so I'm a bit confused as to what is going on here. The front entry looks to be at ground level, but it's all filled in with gravel inside, so no height for basement. I also know the hole dug was stepped down on the slope and was not very deep. These don't even look like foundation forms and they plywood obviously isn't coming out.

Is this just bracing for a foundation to be put on top?

I'm not a foundation contractor so I'm just guessing here and perhaps someone with recent and/or professional experience will tell me I'm full of it, but...

I'd assume that those are just the footings and that a foundation wall will be poured on top of them.

That little trench in the center would be the key for the upper wall. I am a little surprised there isn't any rebar sticking up to tie the wall to the footing tho.

To me it looks like the type of foundation that will have poured walls, not block. Check with the builder but it seems okay to me that you will have the basement.

quote:

Originally posted by rtquig:
To me it looks like the type of foundation that will have poured walls, not block. Check with the builder but it seems okay to me that you will have the basement.

Yes, we are having poured walls. I think we originally thought they were pouring the foundation. But it makes sense that this is just the footings.

I also wondered about no rebar.

Did you click the box to order the basement? Seems silly, but you may want to push the issue before they advance too far.

We ordered a couch from Macy's in late November. It arrived 12/28 only to discover they included a sleeper. Uh, we didn't order the sleeper. Back it went and the replacement arrived today.

those are footings. they'll pour the basement slab on top of that gravel. then they'll backfill the dirt back up against the walls once they are poured.

I'm assuming the underground portion of the house is on the left and the daylight is on the right?

the no rebar thing is a little weird though. would expect to see rebar in the footings and sticking up out of the footing which the foundation walls would be poured around.

They should of put rebar inside the forms which is now covered with concrete.

Not the cleanest of jobs I have seen.

Curious about the design of the house. I understand about the garage. The footing configuration is a bit puzzling. I am not a contractor though. So there is much I don't know.

I would agree with the other members here in regards to the rebar. I drove a concrete truck for 18 years and poured many a footing. While not every footing has rebar, the majority do. Depends on your local code. A building inspector has to approve the footing before it is poured.

Okay gonna answer all the above without quoting...

Yes we ordered the basement. It's in the plans, drawings, extra windows we paid for, etc.

In the pic the left is the garage. The front of the house can be seen bottom left corner where the bump out is.

There is a footing going through the kitchen/family room area in the middle of the house (horizontal in the picture).

The rebar part is puzzling. But we just saw a video online of this exact type of footing being poured. It even had that line that seems to be drawn along the top of the footings. In the video there was no rebar, but then later before foundation pouring there was. In any case we will be going to the site every day. I'll see what happens tomorrow. Although if they are waiting for the concrete to cure it may be a few days before anything happens.

I think after this step I may change this thread and show the progress on my house. After all you guys are helping me with all kinds of stuff.

Thanks!

I do commercial concrete work. Those are footers. They should have pinned bar in the tops to tie the footer to the foundation. The other option is to drill and epoxy the rebar in, which is what we do in repair situations.
Discuss this with your builder and architect. Also I would make sure your contractor made test cylinders to check for strength and proper curing. We will usually do between 5 and 10 per truck. Make sure the cylinders are labeled as well so you can determine where the concrete in the cylinder was placed in the event of a bad break. You should have forms off in 72 hours and full cure at 28 days. Breaks should be done when forms come off and a full cure at a minimum and done by a reputable testing company.
Email is in my profile if you have any questions.

the grove you see drawn on the top of the footing is called a key, keyway, or shear key. it is for lateral/shear reinforcement. depending on the size and height of the foundation wall, code might not require vertical rebars. also, where the foundation wall sits on a footing is a weak spot for water so they will often place a waterstop in the groove.

Professional engineer here. Those are footings, but I don't see any rebar to tie it to the foundation walls. Simply drilling holes and dropping in rebar with epoxy don't cut it in my book. They need a few feet of embedment bent at 90 degrees to keep from pulling out.

Your biggest issue from what I can tell will be drainage coming down that hill. Please, please, please install a proper drainage system around the foundation. Also, I would recommend you intercept the drainage water upstream from the house and divert it around the structure. Yes, it will cost a little bit of money, but it will save you thousands down the road in water damage.

If your foundation walls will be concrete block, make SURE each cell is filled solid with GROUT, NOT MORTAR. I have some photos of my in-laws neighbor's house where the contractor ran rebar through the cells of the block and simply capped the top course. When they backfilled the house when it was about 80% complete, the primary wall buckled and fell into the basement.

quote:

Originally posted by jcsabolt2:
Professional engineer here. Those are footings, but I don't see any rebar to tie it to the foundation walls. Simply drilling holes and dropping in rebar with epoxy don't cut it in my book. They need a few feet of embedment bent at 90 degrees to keep from pulling out.

Your biggest issue from what I can tell will be drainage coming down that hill. Please, please, please install a proper drainage system around the foundation. Also, I would recommend you intercept the drainage water upstream from the house and divert it around the structure. Yes, it will cost a little bit of money, but it will save you thousands down the road in water damage.

If your foundation walls will be concrete block, make SURE each cell is filled solid with GROUT, NOT MORTAR. I have some photos of my in-laws neighbor's house where the contractor ran rebar through the cells of the block and simply capped the top course. When they backfilled the house when it was about 80% complete, the primary wall buckled and fell into the basement.

Going back to look today but from what I'm being told the rebar isn't required here for this size. In any case no block, all poured concrete foundation.

The builder has good plans for drainage. I don't think it will be an issue. The lot is on a large hill and the front driveway will be very level.

It will be to the right of the house in these pictures.

"Built to code" is the same as "Milspec."

While it is a standard, it is a minimum standard.

For rebar to be required, the building has to be quite large, a single family requiring it would be most luxurious. Building height and the length of the foundation wall, hence load on the footing will dictate.

Two things:

If you're really concerned, ask the town building inspector.

Considering that it's your home and for all intents and purposes permanent, you can have rebar set with epoxy, if you want. If there is a key, and we're talking about a typical single family, rebar wouldn't hurt, but is overbuilding.

What I expect from any builder, including myself, is to give the client what they want, and make them happy. You should be comfortable with the construction methods being used and I'd want to make sure as a builder. Not just tell you "it's not required."

Since you're having the foundation done now, in winter conditions, here is what I would be concerned about if I were you:

The cure of the concrete, and shifting/cracking once the ground has thawed.

If the builder is telling you that pouring concrete now is "fine," or however they're phrasing it, I would want to be sure that they are going to come back and make necessary repairs should any cracks appear.

I don't mean the hairline cracking that often occurs in a floor slab. I mean proper cracks through the foundation wall. I've had the pleasure of dealing with those for people who were busy suing their builders.

Can you pour concrete in freezing conditions? Sure. But not without taking those conditions into account and acting accordingly. Cure of the concrete, soil conditions and water table are all things that will be different frozen.

Here is what rebar does inside of concrete, it takes all tensile loading since concrete is only worth a darn while in compression. Personally, I would never build a home without it regardless of the structure size or what the "code" says.

Block walls without rebar and being filled with grout WILL crack and WILL buckle eventually. It make take 5 years, it may take 50 years, but it will happen. The same will be true for concrete walls without reinforcement...it may take a little while longer, but it will happen. Back when i was studying for my P.E. exam we had a forensic structural engineer teaching the structures class. If building with a block wall used for a basement and backfilled appropriately we had to prove that it would not fail given any "normal" conditions we provided. Guess what, they all failed 100% of the time and always cracked about at mid wall.

I'm not trying to scare you, but most home owners know squat about construction, architecture or engineering. There are some good builders, bad ones, same for architects and engineers and building codes for that matter. I just want you to be informed. In Ohio where I live, footers and foundation walls are required to have reinforcement. Like I said earlier, I personally would not build without it. Just my $0.02 of free advice.

quote:

Originally posted by ffemt44:
I do commercial concrete work. Those are footers. They should have pinned bar in the tops to tie the footer to the foundation. The other option is to drill and epoxy the rebar in, which is what we do in repair situations.
Discuss this with your builder and architect. Also I would make sure your contractor made test cylinders to check for strength and proper curing. We will usually do between 5 and 10 per truck. Make sure the cylinders are labeled as well so you can determine where the concrete in the cylinder was placed in the event of a bad break. You should have forms off in 72 hours and full cure at 28 days. Breaks should be done when forms come off and a full cure at a minimum and done by a reputable testing company.
Email is in my profile if you have any questions.

That seems crazy that they'd add the ties later, why wouldn't they be poured in instead of drilled in?

looks like they scratched the key in with a stick wth ? I do see what looks like a couple of pieces of rebar. rebar wont stop the cracking only the shifting, so maybe there is some bars down it the footing our local code just requires 2 each 1/2. I'm sure they have done this a few times and there has to be a inspection prior to the pour so I'm sure it met code.


get out the site plan and look at it see what it says.

quote:

Originally posted by jcsabolt2:
Here is what rebar does inside of concrete, it takes all tensile loading since concrete is only worth a darn while in compression. Personally, I would never build a home without it regardless of the structure size or what the "code" says.

Ok, but the building code isn't random, and _is_ a minimum safe standard. If you want more rebar than required, then you just pay a builder to do it that way.

quote:

Block walls without rebar and being filled with grout WILL crack and WILL buckle eventually.

He's using poured concrete. What block does is irrelevant.

quote:

I'm not trying to scare you, but most home owners know squat about construction, architecture or engineering. There are some good builders, bad ones, same for architects and engineers and building codes for that matter. I just want you to be informed. In Ohio where I live, footers and foundation walls are required to have reinforcement. Like I said earlier, I personally would not build without it. Just my $0.02 of free advice.

Rebar reinforcement, and the connection of rebar footing to wall, are separate things. One would expect that if built to code, there are rebar reinforcements in the footings, and the walls will have reinforcements to code as well.

Code or no code, I'd want the rebar in the poured footing. Cheap to do, more expensive to add later (and not as good).
You might want to pay a good home inspector or engineer now to review what's going on and get ahead of this before something else pops up and to reassure yourself things are being done correctly.

The site is on the side of moderately sloped hill. I would put in LOTS of rebar. If the footing has a reasonable amount of rebar in it, I would drill and set in epoxy a very large amount of vertical rebar to tie into the foundation walls.

I would also go over the plans with an engineer and add reinforcement to the foundation as much as possible. Under-building is asking for trouble. Over-building gives peace of mind and lasts longer than standard.

If it was my house, I would consider ripping out the poured footing and redoing it to a higher standard.