Learn the reasons why this Pier & Beam foundation was the best choice for a SIPs house on Clay Soil. www.MattRisinger.com Matt Risinger - Risinger Homes in Austin TX
Great Video! I moved here about 6 months ago from the Midwest and most homes there have basements, so when I moved here all the homes are slab or pier and beam. I’m starting a pest control company here soon and I’m trying to educate myself on the different foundations here in Texas so I could properly perform termite treatments to the foundations. Thank you for the great videos :)
I agree with these other comments - this post is lightyears ahead of the other foundation videos I've seen. Honestly, I can't believe some of what I've seen! I'm in the south as well and termites can be a problem! So having any sort of wooden pier is out of the question. Love your vids Matt! You da man!
Everyone is asking about cost. That will depend on your location, and soil conditions. The location determines local building codes and practices. Soil conditions determine extent of engineering and construction needed to over come those conditions. On top of that, he's a contractor/builder who works in different parts of Texas. That same exact foundation could cost more, or cost less, 100 miles away. He would be wise not to reveal pricing, as future clients might try to hold him to what he said on video, ignorant of all the factors I just mentioned.
Sorry but failure to provide a ballpark estimate with disclaimer is not very helpful in any case. Try finding prices on manufactured homes for example. There's a reason that is very difficult to do. Most sales efforts are very misleading and deceptive.
Contractors and Homeowners: I can't stress enough the importance of getting a soils report before placing a foundation. Soil preparation for a foundation is the most important step in foundation construction. If your soil strength is low, it won't matter on hoe well the concrete foundation is constructed; the house will experience differential settlement - a costly mistake.
I need help!! We're in the process of buying a home in Quinlan, Texas and the inspector found foundation issues. It is pier and beam and doe lack of better words the inspector said there are mounds of dirt versus it being flat. I'm so unsure if I should go forth even if they fix it.
Iam not a pro on fundations. But why making pillars to bedrock? There Will stil be craks between pillars and rest of foundation when clay moves...One solid slab floating on clay...eint that better?
Brilliant video Hi here in the uk Out building control want us to dig down to clay Then lay a strip foundation around the perimeter of the building But what you guys do makes sense Thank you
Not what I thought when I read the title. In my area of south Texas it's majority post tension slab. Any pier and beam foundation is either drilled piers 8 feet down with wooden post or a big 2'x2'x2' footer with CMU blocks on top.
+SailingandSuch I agree. A ton of engineering went into this, and where my poured basement cost 30k I believe this was 30k just in drilling down to the bedrock. I am sure the geo-location changes a lot. But I wonder how others in that area are doing their foundations? Surely not drilling past the 15 to 20' of clay? Very cool, none the less.
It sounds like they would also have to jack up that massive concrete slab every few years until the piers sink down to bedrock anyway, which may not be practical with any amount of money.
Footers do not keep out rodents or insects. You do realize subterranean termites live in the soil under slabs right? What about the weep holes in brick? Insects can get in from there too.
Matt, share some info on footings and piers for homes on a ledge or extreme grade. Do you need to core drill into the rock or just dig out for a footing and place it atop of the rock
it looks like a cardboard box that you set between piers that stops the walls from touching the ground. it rots away after the concrete is set, leaving the beams offset from the ground and only supported by the piers.
Wow there's a lot to that. From central Oklahoma we build on red clay mostly and we like to do a footing and stemwall lay pipe and then pour a pad. Great videos. Cody sent me over.
I put a 1800 sq ft 2 story house with 2×6 walls on a $600.00 concrete pier and beam as follows. 10 inch piers at 6 ft on center...36 in deep in my area do to frost line...can go 8 ft on center for single story. Beam on top of piers is 8in wide by 16in deep with 4 half in rebar...2 at top, 2 at bottom. After finished, poured slab in side that was later polished and stained as finish floor.
I have plans to build a concrete silo or fire tower house and want to use drilled piers down to bedrock all around the perimeter and do a pier cap/beam. Highest point will be 190 ft to avoid have to install an anti-collision light.
Well the fact is that the homeowner or the contractor have no control over the type of foundation in these types of areas with questionable soil conditions. And i say that from a position of experience as a licensed Florida home builder. The pier and beam type of foundation is about as an extreme type of foundation as there is. I built a home for myself in the Florida Keys, and this is the type of foundation that was ( required ) there. Where ever there are building codes, there will be regulations controlling every aspect of the construction. So it isnt what the builder decides to do regarding the foundation. But rather what the requirements are based upon engineering reviews of the site conditions. There ( will be ) a complete set of engineer approved plans, including a plan for how the foundation will be done. The required inspections will be based upon those engineered and approved plans, and not by what the contractor deems to be sufficient.
Should have done gridded strip footing on piers, all below natural ground. Then masonry brick & pier subfloor walls with internal piers to support bearers. Forming a concrete wall to the perimeter sounds expensive and doesn't really allow for subfloor ventilation.
Must be nice to have ground like that.. I have half an inch of topsoil, 12 inches of clay filled with large flat rocks, and then rock.. When I plant things, I use an air chisel to dig, because usually I'm just boring a hole in a rock 😂
Great explanation on this type of foundation. Compared to say a slab on grade foundation or a traditional full basement below frost depth; what is the cost comparison?
Took me a week! But watched all your videos after Cody sent us over here! Great stuff and I cannot wait for all the future videos to come from you! Cheers! -- Steve
Matt I live in British Columbia where the climate is similar to Seattle. I'd love to build a house around some tall mature trees without damaging their root structure or damaging the soil to the point where they can't absorb water. Would this pier and beam method protect root structures and soil viability or would I have to practically build a house on stilts without a concrete floor?
Two questions: First, would this type of house building be something one could use in the northeast? Second, would there be any difference in building when a basement is added to the house? Most all houses in upper NY State have basements as well as crawl spaces.
Great thought provoking video! The question I come back to though, is at the point (and having already incurred the expense) of having all the load transferred to the piers and pouring a slab over the void forms to protect the structure from the expansive soils ... couldn't you save a lot of additional expense by just building on top of that stable slab rather then having a crawl space? You can put all the plumbing and mechanical overhead in your conditioned attic or inside your engineered 2nd floor truss system instead of putting it in the crawl. By building on the slab you save money and don't have to deal with entry steps for universal design. Am I missing something? Great design, and love a conditioned crawl ... if you have to have one at all.
Wheres a good place to find information about foundation types for my area? I am from Northern California and want to know if this still applies for Earthquake requirements
I’m designing a house to build in SW Florida on a saltwater canal. The current elevation of the lot is 3.5 feet but it’s in an AE7 flood zone. Looks like most new homes us fill to bring the pad up to the BFE level. Wouldn’t the piling foundation be better and less expensive in I’m case instead of building up the lot 5 feet higher with 60 loads of fill dirt. Any advice is appreciated.
Hey Matt, I'm using a conditioned crawlspace for a new home I'm constructing and I'm wondering how the thin slab in your short basement will respond to the expanding clay. I'm in blackland central Texas myself building far away from trees, but I'm curious if the relative difference in moisture from area to area will result in a heaving/cracking basement "rat slab" or if the vapor barrier could be compromised by this. Did you take any other measures to seal at your inside edges of the perimeter beam?
What type of foundation do you believe is best for a 2 story home. It will sit on a 30 X40 foot lot. I live at Mobile, Alabama. Thank you for any feedback!
i like this video, but there are a lot of voids in between. it would be nice to show drawings how the pier and beam works..........conversation is far too broad. and not specific
Hi Matt, how are you? I was searching youtube for foundations. I'm planning on moving to 40 acres of land near Sierra Vista AZ. in a year or two. So I'm looking at many factors including that of a foundation and I'm making an assumption that a pier and beam would be seriously less expensive than a solid slab. Could you be so kind as to suggest the videos of yours or others that I should watch? P'S I'm doing this on my own and I have plenty of time to do it right. So excited to get away from the urban jungle that is Philadelphia. Luv yer videos.!
Kerr First percentage of clay is not the correct question to ask. As a geotechnical engineer practicing for 30+ years, you need to ask how expansive is the clay. With a low plasticity index (PI - obtained. from a lab test called an Atterburg Limits test), you don't need to do much on foundation/ slab construction. If the PI is higher (which means the soils are classified as moderately to highly expansive), you have additional costs you will incur for design and construction. From drilled piers ( for a pier and grade beam foundation) to a post-tensioned slab ( cables are poured in slab and, after concrete has reached a certain cure point , around 21 days, the tendons are stretched with a hydraulic ram to predetermined strengths and locked off to cinch the concrete slab making it much stronger than a regular slab or a structural slab), costs of foundation will go up thousands, if not tens of thousands more. So, where problematic soils exist, having a geotechnical analysis done on a property you are buying (raw acreage to a residential development), can really pay off. Tip- most residential developments have a report done before plans are approved so ask realtor or local building department for a copy. Hope this helps.
@Timms MC a PT slab can be rigid enough to limit differential settlement and to distribute the load across the entire footprint. But... based on my experience a PT slab is more expensive than 18" caissons.
No wonder no one can afford to build a house in the USA. Put a mobile home on your precious clay for $100K done in a week. Got bolts under it to level it up! Miracle. Or better yet, Just build a thick and stiff slab, don't need the fricking Brooklyn bridge foundations here. Water your lawn in the summer. Clay stays at one condition
Wife of GC/developer here. There are still affordable homes built in the US, depending on what part of the country you are in. One reason for cost increase: till the early 1980's the average new home was 1500 SF and most did not have 2 car garages; average size is now 2,600 SF w/a 2 car garage but many with 3 car. The standard finishes in starter homes are much nicer than 30 years ago - this is all buyer demand, builders will not build what people won't buy. Government regulations and permitting/impact fees are a huge cost impact. Permitting and impact fees can be the largest single line item, greater than the cost of lumber or concrete for example. Home prices in the very high cost markets are driven up by restrictive zoning that limits land available for development; this is often favored by existing residents who don't want additional development "in their backyards". A 20 acre development parcel can yield much less buildable land than 30 years ago and those homes will have smaller lots. Government regulations are a factor as well as prudent development practices (for example wetlands usually cannot be touched and storm water retention is more robust now. I just like to establish that home costs are not all driven by "greedy" developers. Mobile homes now are as nice inside as site built homes now. I don't know a lot about them but I'm sure there's some kind of government permit required to install them. I think if no foundation is constructed and the original wheels and axels are left on, you cannot get a long term mortgage as with a home.
This is so true. I don’t mean to sound morbid but maybe this will change when baby boomer generation start to pass away. Probably the first generation where middle even working class people have become millionaires just off of their home they bought and paid off by the 80s or 90s. As the guy above said, blocking anything perceived to take an inch off their “equity”… Usually the only money to their name besides a social security check. So young people have to launch an entire “tiny home” movement just to move out of mom and dads and most can’t even afford that
@mister clean Yes, it does. No, most foundations aren't placed on the clay layer. Clay absolutely can move enough to be an issue! come up to Colorado and Wyoming and you can see thousands of homes damaged by clay movement.
Hey Matt, great video. Would this work for townhomes where you have concerns regarding soil moisture near wetlands? The initial design was slab on grade, with the first level having storage and garage only; no living space. The project is in New England.
These are better than a slab on grade when In a wetland area because it’s up off the ground a couple feet, but it can get moldy underneath with pier and beam
James Casady if you lift your house high enough , you will be able to use mini beaver auger and to reinforce pears use plastic rebars they can be bent to some extent to insert them in the holes beneath the house
You should probably say what country you are talking about instead of just saying "The South" Maybe it also applies to some countries in the South of Europe, South of Australia, but definately not the South of Canada, South of UK etc.
What about block and beam foundations like they do in the UK? Its similar to using cement blocks and then the floor part is a t-beam and block layout. Hopefully that makes sense I'll add a link to what I'm talking about. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-5wxzAzQvmIg.html
guys stop asking him about the price .He will never tell you that because as soon as he mention the price many professionals in the trade would offer cheaper or better solutions. He does not want his clients know that. After all the purpose of his videos promote himself to find more reach customers
This is one of the most confusing bullshit videos. The guy is mixing all kinds of foundations (terms) together and acting as if they are all one. This fucking slab would cost a damn fortune.
