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How to make a foundation cheaper. Ways to save, high-quality and cheap foundation with your own hands

How to save money on a foundation? Our recommendations will help you make a cheap foundation.

When you carry out construction on your own, it is quite natural that you have to save on literally everything. But here you need to keep a rather fine line between economy and quality.

It happens that while you win on savings, you may lose on quality, which is much more important. Moreover, how can you save on such an important element of your future home as the foundation?

Cheap foundation? It's possible!

It turns out that you can make a cheap foundation, again following fairly simple rules. Which? This will be discussed in our article.

If you fill the foundation according to all the rules, you will have to spend a lot of money. By the way, the cost of the foundation as a percentage of other individual parts of the house is approximately 11%, which you will agree is quite expensive. How to reduce costs as much as possible? It’s worth noting right away that nothing is free, so saving on money will require you to work hard.

We exclude expensive materials

In order to save on the most expensive components of the foundation, cement and sand, we need to fill the space with something more affordable. In the simplest case, we will use: any scrap metal of the appropriate shape - rods, thick wire, channels, angles, etc.

Crushed stone and sand

We will also need crushed stone. What can replace it? Ordinary construction waste. Of course not everyone. We will need substandard bricks of all shapes, sizes and types, and rubble stone. By the way, the latter, in my opinion, is always used by private owners when pouring a foundation.

What can replace cement?

Unfortunately, it is advisable to take a high-quality one, taking into account the specifics of our foundation pouring and the quality of other materials.

Gravel or sand must also be of high quality; in fact, you cannot save money on it.

If you are going to build a permanent building, you should not skimp on the depth of the trench for the foundation. Otherwise, this threatens to cause the foundation to settle, and cracks may appear in the wall of your house.

Formworks

You can also save on formwork. It is absolutely not necessary to use planed boards for them. You can use substandard boards by placing old sheets of fiberboard or even cardboard on the inside of the formwork. The boards can be nailed overlapping, without cutting off the excess to save money.

If you do take conditioned boards that are suitable for further use, try to nail them down carefully. After the foundation has hardened, they can be carefully removed and used for their intended purpose.

How to save money on preparing the solution? The solution can be ordered from the factory, but you can make it yourself. But it will take a lot of work and time. Therefore, calculate what is more valuable to you. You can purchase a used concrete mixer if you later build a brick house. There you will also need a solution and a concrete mixer will most likely pay for itself.

Here are some simple tips that will help you save money on pouring a foundation. Buy a concrete mixer and good luck!

When starting a private construction project, the owner of the future building most often wants to save money and at the same time get a reliable building. And we are talking here not only about the selected building materials for the house itself, but also about the type of foundation that will be the basis for the construction. We will discuss how to choose the optimally cheap foundation, what type of foundation is suitable for the specific soil on the site, and how to save on work.

Important: the cost of constructing the frame is 30% of the total cost of building the house as a whole. Therefore, it is worth carefully weighing all the parameters and nuances of installing the base with the help of competent specialists.

Parameters for determining the cost of the foundation

In order to understand how much money will be spent on installing the foundation of a house, such important criteria as:

Salary for a home designer. It is this person who is able to make for you the optimally profitable building on the specified site.
Conducting geological soil analysis.
The total cost of all building materials for the foundation.
The price of excavation work, including backfilling of the base.
The cost of installing a reinforcing belt and installing formwork.
Wages for workers, if any, are involved in construction work.

Important: you definitely cannot save on geological soil analysis and designer work. After all, a competent approach to soil research allows you to make an optimal design for a house with a foundation that will have good load-bearing capacity specifically for your building.

In addition to these two important components of subsequent construction savings, it is necessary to take care of high-quality insulation, waterproofing of the base of the house, as well as a reliable drainage system.

The effect of hiring competent specialists

If there is some confusion on the topic “why pay specialist designers and geologists,” then we hasten to dispel all doubts. The work of such professionals will bring the following benefits to installation work:

Thus, a competent geologist will determine the optimal location on the site for building a house. Optimality here means the lowest possible groundwater level and the same level of soil freezing. This means that the depth of the foundation can be safely reduced. Savings in building materials and payments for excavation work in this case are obvious.
A competent professional designer will help you make a reliable building from optimal building materials. After all, for example, M-500 cement has a high load-bearing capacity, but it also costs several times more than M-300 cement. Or maybe, according to the project, your house will require the use of M-300 grade cement. That is, it will be enough for your design. And here the savings are obvious. Needless to say, there are a lot of similar nuances when designing a building. And only an experienced architect-designer can cope with them.
In addition, it is the designer who is able to correctly determine the optimal width of the foundation strip or grillage. After all, construction is not always about creating maximum opportunities for the foundation. The architect will be able to determine the optimal load-bearing capacity of the frame specifically for your home. This means that building materials will then be purchased not according to the maximum quantity and load-bearing capacity, but according to optimal parameters.

In addition to saving on construction by attracting experienced professionals, the following points also play an important role:

Drainage system design. After all, proper drainage of water from the site reduces the groundwater level, which means that the level of soil freezing will be reduced. Therefore, the foundation can be made shallow. Another saving point.
Designing a waterproofing system also makes it possible to create a shallow frame even on soil with a high groundwater level. And this is an additional point of savings during construction.
The installation of a high-quality heat insulator also allows you to reduce the cost of building a foundation. Due to good insulation, the base tape can be narrowed to optimal load-bearing capacity.
It is worth noting that both the geologist and the architect are able, in accordance with the site studies obtained, to select the most effective and economical type of foundation for the desired building.

Types of foundations at low cost

The price of installing a foundation is determined not only by the amount spent on the purchase of building materials, but also by the total weight of the finished house. It is for this reason that for a frame or wooden house you can make a light and economical frame on poles or stilts. Below we will consider foundation options that will be economical options in each specific case for a specific building.

Foundation for a wooden house

For such a house it is quite possible to install a shallow columnar frame with a wooden grillage. The financial benefit in this case will consist of the following parameters:

There is no need to dig a full pit;
Possibility of using available materials (blocks, bricks, wood) as building materials for foundation supports;
Minimal labor costs during installation, that is, the base can be built even with your own hands without the involvement of professional craftsmen.
The average cost of such a columnar frame in Russia is from 40 USD. for one pillar.

Important: this foundation is considered the cheapest, but is only suitable for light houses and buildings on sandy soils.

Foundation for a brick or block house

Heavier buildings require a more powerful foundation with high load-bearing capacity. In this case, the most cost-effective option would be a shallow or medium-deep columnar monolithic foundation with the same reinforced concrete or beam grillage. Ideally, a strip frame should be built under a stone house. Especially if the soil on the site is difficult. When constructing a strip frame, you can save on building materials if there are deposits of rubble (natural stone) near the site. The rubble strip foundation is quite strong and reliable and has a high load-bearing capacity.

Important: the mass of one m3 of blocks is approximately 600-700 kg, while the mass of bricks in the same volume is already about 1.5 tons. A strip foundation made of concrete with reinforcement will cost about 7 thousand rubles per linear meter. A columnar frame made of concrete with reinforcement and a monolithic grillage will cost 65 USD. for one post plus grillage.

Foundation for a monolithic house of 1-2 floors

In this case, a full-fledged strip base or a concrete monolithic slab is installed. The latter option is especially good for moving soils with high groundwater levels. Moreover, if it is planned to install a strip foundation, then in the case of moving soils on the site, it is necessary to install a support sole under the frame strip. The expansion will reduce the pressure of the house's mass on the foundation and increase the load-bearing capacity of the foundation.

You can save on the construction of a strip base if you assemble it from concrete blocks. This will reduce work costs by approximately 30%. The cost of a strip monolithic base will cost approximately 111-126 USD per linear meter. A monolithic concrete slab will cost from 48 USD/m2. But depending on the depth of the base.

Pile foundation

The most economical and at the same time durable type of frame. The foundation on metal screw piles can be installed on complex moving soils, in rocks, and at high groundwater levels. The only condition for a pile foundation is a building that is light in weight. This could be a frame or panel house, a garage or a utility room like a barn.

The savings here are as follows:

No need for complex excavation work;
The ability to perform installation yourself without the involvement of professionals;
Relatively low cost of building materials (piles and channels for grillage).
The price of a pile foundation starts from 72 USD on average. for one pillar.

Important: the pile foundation can be installed directly near reservoirs. And with certain skill, the installation time will take only 1-2 days.

Foundation using TISE technology

This is a type of columnar or pile foundation, the supports of which have a cross-section of 25 cm. In this case, a special extension with a cross-section of 60 cm is arranged under the foundation pillars. It is called a shoe or sole. Such a pillow can significantly reduce the pressure of the house’s mass on the frame columns, and therefore prevent subsidence of the soil under its weight.

The foundation using TISE technology is good for any house (brick, block, frame, stone). In addition, this type of foundation can be installed on almost any soil, such as sand, clay, loam, high groundwater level, etc.

An important link in the construction of the base using TISE technology is a durable grillage - a frame encircling the pillars. It is most often made from rolled metal or monolithic concrete. The cost of such a foundation (including work) will be from 64 USD/linear meter.

Foundation slab

It is also called a floating base. Such a monolithic concrete pad goes 1.5-1.7 meters deep into the ground. In this case, the concrete pour is reinforced with a rigid frame.

A slab foundation can hardly be called an economical option for constructing a foundation, but such a frame will withstand any load on the most difficult soils. The slab foundation is not afraid of seasonal soil heaving, high groundwater level, moving layers or complex terrain.

Important: when starting construction with your own hands, carefully weigh all its nuances in order to avoid disastrous mistakes in the work.

Slab foundation with basement. The most expensive type of foundation in terms of labor costs and cost. Making it alone will be extremely problematic, if not impossible. But, oddly enough, this is the most common type of foundation in North America. I'll explain why.

Having erected the concrete walls of the basement, we immediately get one floor of the house, which is more than half below ground level. Heated floor pipes are immediately installed inside the main foundation slab, under the house. What does this give us? The base of the foundation is located below the freezing depth of the soil. This means that even in winter, the stove is not exposed to sub-zero temperatures, and precious heat is consumed minimally. And in the summer we get coolness from the ground in the basement. Americans and Canadians like to set up gyms, billiard rooms, and home theaters there. The house above the ground is low, although its total area provides a comfortable standard of living.

In Russia, a simply insulated foundation slab is becoming popular, which serves as the basis for the floor of the first floor. The frame house is being built immediately on it. Along the edge of the slab, frames are installed - strapping for frame walls.

Strip foundation. The most common type of foundation among Russians. Probably because it is the most understandable. A reinforced concrete foundation strip is poured under the future walls of the house. The width of the tape is slightly wider than the thickness of the walls of the future house. It has many varieties and types of execution, depending on the competence of the builders and the soil at the construction site. The height of the strip foundation ranges from shallow to a size greater than the depth of soil freezing. The main cost of the foundation lies in the cost of concrete and reinforcement. It can be difficult to do alone, but it’s better to have helpers.

Pile foundation. Recently, it began to have two varieties: bored piles and screw piles. The foundation on bored piles is relatively simple to implement and can be done independently in a fairly short time. Holes are drilled in the soil into which the concrete formwork is inserted. A structure made of reinforcement is lowered into this jacket, after which concrete is poured.

Screw piles are made of steel. Piles have a main cylindrical part and blades at the end, which are used for twisting inwards, and then as the main support for the foundation. Pipes for piles are not specially manufactured. Typically used pipes from the oil industry are used.

Both types of foundation piles, in the upper part, are rigidly connected to each other, either by strapping or by a grillage, which, in principle, is the same thing. The grillage not only combines the piles into a solid structure, but also forms a single plane for mounting future walls of the house. A pile foundation is very suitable for a frame house, especially if the topography of the building site has a curvature. But this inexpensive foundation for a frame house has one significant drawback - the open space under the building. And it is better to tighten screw piles using special equipment.

Columnar foundation. As you may have guessed, this is the cheapest and simplest foundation for a frame house. It consists of free-standing concrete pillars that are slightly buried in the soil. Despite its simplicity and low cost, this type of foundation also requires some preparation of the foundation. We will consider this point in more detail in the article columnar foundation for a frame house. Here I would like to note that any errors and shortcomings may mean that after some time it will have to be repaired. Or perform.

As a result, we find that a columnar foundation for a frame house is two to three times cheaper than a pile and strip foundation. A slab foundation, insulated, and even with a basement floor, is the most expensive in terms of cost and labor costs.

At the design stage, the question arises as to which foundation is best to choose for the future home. The solution to this issue is important for the developer. The cost of the foundation of a building can be a third of the total estimated cost of construction, so you need to choose the most reliable and durable foundation. When determining the best foundation, the owner of a future home should always be guided by the price and quality of the foundation.

Main factors determining the choice of foundation

Let's consider the main conditions that influence the choice of foundation for a house. The properties of the soil base are determined by its composition, the level of groundwater and the depth of soil freezing.

Soil composition

According to their bearing capacity, soils are divided into three groups:

Weak soils

Peaty, sandy and clayey soils are considered weak soil foundations. For example, peat bogs are so unreliable that the construction of any structures on them is often avoided.

Clay soils, as a rule, are susceptible to heaving. Heaving, that is, a sharp increase in soil volume under the influence of moisture saturation, can cause foundation structures to be pushed to the surface of the earth. In the same way, frozen layers of soil affect the supporting structures of the building.

Weak sandy soils do not have high bearing capacity and can contribute to subsidence and destruction of the foundation of the house. On soils of this type, pile foundations with a grillage and monolithic reinforced concrete slabs, both supported on piles and without them, are laid.

Rocky foundations and rocky soils

Rocky foundations are the strongest. On such soils, strip monolithic and prefabricated reinforced concrete foundations are erected. Columnar supports with a grillage also serve as an excellent reliable foundation for buildings on such soils.

Dense soils

Dense soils are formed from cohesive rocks that can withstand heavy loads and are resistant to heaving.

On dense soils, monolithic strip and prefabricated reinforced concrete foundations are mainly erected, and columnar foundation supports are also widely used. Dense soils are reliable and acceptable for all types of foundations.

Soil freezing depth and groundwater level

These two factors determine the depth of the foundation. To create a reliable foundation for a structure, the depth of the foundation is determined below the freezing layers of soil and below the groundwater level.

When building low-rise buildings from lightweight structures, the foundation is made shallow above groundwater, but below the depth of soil freezing.

Guided by the calculated load from the house on the entire supporting area of the foundation, the type of foundation, its dimensions and configuration are determined.

If several types of foundations can be used for an object under construction, then the decision as to which foundation is best is made based on the cost of its construction and reliability.

Main types of foundations

Strip foundations

According to the depth of their foundations, strip foundations can be shallow foundations or deep foundations. Shallow tapes are used mainly in the construction of low-rise buildings made of lightweight structures (foam blocks).

In other cases, foundation strips are laid below the groundwater level, creating powerful foundation structures with high load-bearing capacity. Strip foundations can be either monolithic reinforced concrete or prefabricated reinforced concrete strip foundations.

Strip monolithic reinforced concrete foundations

Strip monolithic reinforced concrete foundation is one of the most common types of foundations for buildings and structures. The construction of such a supporting part of the house requires large expenses for excavation and reinforcement work, as well as for the installation and dismantling of formwork. All this is justified by its great strength and high load-bearing capacity, which allows the construction of multi-story buildings from heavy structures.

What kind of foundation is best to lay on dense soils? The solution to the issue will certainly be made in favor of the construction of a strip foundation.

The question of which foundation is better for a house with a complex wall configuration in plan will also not raise doubts in favor of choosing a strip monolithic foundation.

Precast concrete strip foundation

Compared to monolithic strips, bases made of prefabricated reinforced concrete blocks are more economical. Installation of prefabricated reinforced concrete blocks does not require labor costs for installing formwork, reinforcing work and pouring concrete into the foundation.

Both shallow and deep foundations are installed from prefabricated reinforced concrete blocks. Factories for the production of reinforced concrete products offer a wide selection of reinforced concrete foundation blocks.

What is the advantage of prefabricated blocks over a monolithic base? Installation of blocks does not require labor-intensive work on installation and dismantling of formwork, as well as its reinforcement. The construction time for the foundation is significantly reduced due to the absence of time spent on concrete hardening. Reinforced concrete blocks are easy to transport and store.

Columnar foundations

Columnar supports are placed in plan along the line of load-bearing walls, in the corners of the perimeter of the house, as well as in places where loads from various internal technical equipment of the house are concentrated.

Columnar supports can be shallow or deep. Support pillars can be used instead of a strip foundation. The supports are placed in increments of 1.5-2 meters. When comparing the strip base with support pillars, the cost-effectiveness of installing columnar supports is noticeable.

The savings lie in significantly lower volumes of excavation and the absence of formwork work. However, one should not forget about the costs of installing a grillage. All doubts regarding the choice of foundation type will be resolved by a comparative technical and economic calculation.

Slab monolithic foundation

A monolithic reinforced concrete slab can act as an independent supporting structure of a building, or act as a grillage for a pile foundation.

Such structures are erected on soft soils. A reinforced concrete slab has a high load-bearing capacity, but is an economically expensive structure.

Piles

The main purpose of piles is to transfer the load from a building through soft soils to denser soil layers.

The most common types of piles:

Reinforced concrete piles;
Bored supports;
Casing;
Shell piles;
Metal screw supports;
Wooden supports.

Reinforced concrete piles

Reinforced concrete piles are manufactured at the factory. Markings for the installation of piles are made on the support lines of load-bearing walls, in the corners of the building and in places where vertical loads are concentrated. Reinforced concrete supports are installed using pile driving equipment.

Bored piles

Reinforced concrete pipes are installed in drilled holes. Reinforcing cages are installed inside the pipes. Then pour concrete with layer-by-layer compaction. Bored piles are used in densely built-up areas. In such places, a piling installation can cause unwanted deformations in the load-bearing layers of the soil. All this can negatively affect the foundations of nearby buildings and structures.

Bored piles are mainly used in industrial construction.

Casing pipes and shell piles

Casing pipes and shell piles are used in the construction of large industrial facilities. Installation and installation of supports of this type is possible using high-tech equipment.

Screw piles

Screw piles came into civil engineering in the second half of the last century from the military industrial sector. They are indispensable for quickly forming a reliable foundation for small structures. Developers use screw piles not only on weak clay soils, but also on dense soils.

Small screw supports are installed by two people by rotating the pipe using a lever. A lever in the form of a pipe is passed through a hole in the upper part of the support and, through the efforts of two workers, the pile is given a rotational translational vertical movement.

Watch a video detailing the pros and cons of screw bases.

The pile foundation is prepared in 5-7 days, depending on the size of the construction field.

Wooden supports

Wooden posts with pointed ends are driven into the ground using hand tools or a piledriver. Most often, wooden piles are used in the construction of light outbuildings.

Before you start building a house with your own hands, it is worth asking the owners of neighboring houses about the foundation structures of their buildings. This information will help you make the best choice of foundation for your home.

When deciding which foundation is cheaper, you should adhere to the principles of reasonable savings. After all, the foundation is not at all the part of the structure on which you should save.

However, there are still ways to reduce the cost of building a foundation.

And in this article we will show you exactly such loopholes in the gaps in the balanced relationship between the cost of the foundation and its bearing capacity.

How is the cost of the foundation determined?

The estimate for the construction of the foundation consists of the following expenses:

At the same time, when deciding how to make the foundation cheaper, you shouldn’t skimp on the indicated points. After all, refusing geological surveys, high-quality materials and qualified builders will cost the owner of the house being built very dearly. And trying to save money on arranging a foundation pit, reinforcement or formwork will lead to even worse consequences.

However, it is still possible to save on foundation construction. And we will tell you how this is done below.

How to make a cheap foundation - ways to save money wisely

To reduce the cost of foundation construction, you must do the following:

First, hire a competent geologist.
Second, hire an experienced designer.
Thirdly, it will take care of drainage, waterproofing and insulation of the base of the building.

Of course, at first glance, these methods will only require the owner of the site to spend additional money on services and materials.

However, in the long term, these expenses will have the following effect:

In addition, a competent designer and an experienced geologist will help you not only save on parameters, building materials and workers’ wages - these specialists will help you choose the cheapest foundation option for your home, optimizing its design.

Which foundation is the cheapest and why?

The cost of the foundation depends not only on the price of the building material used to construct the walls, but also on its weight. Therefore, a wooden, brick, block or monolithic structure has its own options for ideal foundations - durable, strong and cheap foundations. Examples of such structures will be presented below in the text.

Foundation for a wooden house

The cheapest foundation option is undoubtedly shallow a columnar foundation designed for a wooden grillage made up of the lower crowns (or beams) of the building.

The cheapness of this design is due to several reasons. Firstly, a full-fledged pit, in this case, can be replaced with half-meter pits. Secondly, the pillars will require a minimum of building material. And, thirdly, the arrangement of such a foundation can be done even on your own, saving on labor costs.

Foundation for a block or brick house

But a cheap foundation for a frame house or a log dwelling is completely unsuitable for a brick or block structure. The problem lies in the need to equip a monolithic grillage - essentially a tape poured over the pillars or over a sand bed. After all, bricks or blocks must rest on a solid surface - the upper edge of a horizontal beam that can withstand lateral loads.

Therefore, the cheapest foundation option for a house made of blocks is a columnar, medium-depth foundation, with a monolithic beam-type grillage. A reinforced grillage will hold the wall of a low-rise building made of foam blocks. After all, the weight of a cubic meter of this material is only 600-700 kilograms.

A brick house needs a more solid structure. What is needed here is a full-fledged, buried strip-type foundation. After all, a cubic meter of dense brick weighs up to 1.5 tons. Therefore, the grillage of such a foundation must resist the corresponding lateral load.

Well, how much a strip foundation of this type costs is up to the designer to decide. After all, as we have already said above in the text, only this specialist can influence the final cost of such a design. After all, only he is able to optimize the geometry of the cross-section of the tape, influencing the labor intensity and material consumption of the base.

Foundation for monolithic construction

You can also place a deep strip under the monolith, resting on an expanded base and a full-fledged slab, on top of which a foundation wall for the basement floor is built.

There are very few opportunities to save in this case. And all of them are related not to design optimization, but to construction methods (technologies). For example, the same strip foundation can be built from blocks or using monolithic pouring. The latter option will be 30-40 percent cheaper than the first technology.

In addition, the maximum impact of insulation, waterproofing and drainage on the cost of the foundation of the structure is observed precisely at this stage.

Base for a small architectural form

The cheapest base option for MAF is a pile foundation with a metal or wooden grillage. After all, if you use screw piles as support pillars, then any summer resident can do such construction. So much for saving on workers.

In addition, using screw piles, you can completely avoid excavation work - these supporting elements are simply screwed into the ground. Well, a grillage made of channel bars will support not only a gazebo, but also a full-fledged garage or shed.

The only thing cheaper than a similar design is a base assembled from pitch-filled car tires. This option will serve its owner for at least half a century, requiring absolutely no expenses for arrangement.

opalubok.ru

Types of foundations by cost and labor costs

Slab foundation with basement. The most expensive type of foundation in terms of labor costs and cost. Making it alone will be extremely problematic, if not impossible. But, oddly enough, this is the most common type of foundation in North America. I'll explain why.

Strip foundation. The most common type of foundation among Russians. Probably because it is the most understandable. A reinforced concrete foundation strip is poured under the future walls of the house. The width of the tape is slightly wider than the thickness of the walls of the future house. It has many varieties and types of execution, depending on the competence of the builders and the soil at the construction site. The height of the strip foundation ranges from shallow to a size greater than the depth of soil freezing. The main cost of the foundation lies in the cost of concrete and reinforcement. It can be difficult to do alone, but it’s better to have helpers.

Pile foundation. Recently, it began to have two varieties: bored piles and screw piles. The foundation on bored piles is relatively simple to implement and can be done independently in a fairly short time. Holes are drilled in the soil into which the concrete formwork is inserted. A structure made of reinforcement is lowered into this jacket, after which concrete is poured.

Columnar foundation. As you may have guessed, this is the cheapest and simplest foundation for a frame house. It consists of free-standing concrete pillars that are slightly buried in the soil. Despite its simplicity and low cost, this type of foundation also requires some preparation of the foundation. We will consider this point in more detail in the article columnar foundation for a frame house. Here I would like to note that any errors and shortcomings may mean that after some time it will have to be repaired. Or replace the columnar foundation with screw piles.

strou-dom.ru

Ways to save, high-quality and cheap foundation with your own hands

The total price of a building structure, so important for any building, includes many data that you need to know in order to install a cheap foundation with your own hands.

When designing a building, all the nuances of climatic conditions, the soil condition under the house, and to what depth the foundation of the structure can be installed are taken into account.

Types of foundations for buildings

Spring observation of soil qualities allows you to evaluate:

sandy
rocky
mixed

In such areas it is possible to lay buildings with any foundation; costs are calculated depending on the choice of its type. An area with clay soil will cause problems.

Clay is capable of absorbing liquid with deep freezing, which causes soil heaving.

To get rid of this, it is necessary to lay the foundation at a depth with additional costs.

All options are possible when starting a new construction project and there are ways to determine if a rebuild is being carried out or if you need a cheap do-it-yourself foundation for a garage, bathhouse, gazebo, then they focus on the structure being built, its volume and the amount of expected load forces acting on the foundation.

In any case, it is necessary to know the soil properties of the site, the conditions of deep freezing, and the existence of existing underground springs.

The existence of a large number of varieties of laid foundations under buildings has not been canceled, but they are all created on the main types:

columnar
tape
tiled

The columnar version speaks for itself by its name; it is laid out evenly around the perimeter of a building made of brick or concrete in the form of pillar structures. The foundation under a structure made of pillars is considered cheap and simple; even residential buildings are erected above it if the walls are light frame, wooden.

Such a foundation has not been widely used only because cellars cannot be made in houses and the created space must be carefully insulated. Outbuildings with pillar foundations are the most convenient and economical case.

Old buildings were mainly erected on strip foundations, they are:

shallow
deep-seated

Houses are still being built over such a foundation; it has not lost its popularity.

Minor deepening is carried out if the soil does not heave and it is possible to lay a tape at a depth of up to 0.7 m with a 30 cm sand cushion in a low-rise building.

A strip foundation is reliable and durable if the line is laid deep. This method is used in any construction, regardless of soil properties.

A belt line with a large support area can withstand multi-story buildings; reinforced concrete, brick or any suitable building material are used for construction.

With this type of foundation, it is possible to build good basements, but this is not an option for reducing construction prices. The foundation requires costs for earthen and concrete actions, the volume of which is quite large.

Any problematic soil, even peaty and clayey, can withstand a household with a slab foundation.

They are placed with a shallow depth on a cushion made of sand and crushed stone. The slab is made of reinforced concrete according to the size of the building; it is not afraid of ground changes due to seasonal movements.

What materials do you save on?

The choice of the type of foundation rests with the developer; specialists will help to add up their lowest cost without compromising quality.

The value is determined from the total result of the costs incurred:

geological soil research
foundation design
purchase, transportation of building materials
excavation
performing reinforcement and formwork activities for the arrangement
wages to workers, subject to construction being carried out by hired force

If it is not possible to remove some item from the above in order to reduce the cost of foundation construction, the optimal solution is found in choosing less cheap alternative materials. The use of sand and cement, as the most expensive components in supporting structures, is not recommended to be replaced with low-quality compounds.

Instead of cutting solid reinforcement, old scrap metal consisting of:

squares
unusable metal products
channels
fittings
wire pieces
twigs

They use construction waste, rubble stone, and brick fragments, replacing crushed stone.

Digging of trenches for laying the foundation line is carried out in strict accordance with design requirements; it depends on the geological resolution regarding the condition of the soil on the site.

When making a box for formwork, concrete will be poured into it, you can make a choice of materials from the details:

metal
wooden
plastic

The best option is to make a wooden product using scraps of boards. The inner side is lined with cardboard or fiberboard pieces. Even having put together a formwork box from good boards, it can be used more than once in other buildings.

Budget saving options

Reducing the labor intensity of some processes in the construction of a strip foundation, replacing deep laying with a small recess, makes it possible to install a foundation equal to the traditional one in its reliability.

To do this, a partial soil replacement is carried out with a sand cushion so that it guarantees foundation deformation within acceptable dimensions. When laying a tape with a small recess, you can even build small basements and cellars on any soil except too heaving.

Construction consists of stages:

digging a trench line with an estimated depth of up to 0.7 m
lay an anti-heaving cushion of coarse sand equal to 0.2 m in the upper layer, in the lower layer sand is mixed with crushed stone 0.1 m high
carefully compact the layers
covered with a polymer film so that the solution does not penetrate into the compacted base
install formwork panels, attach roofing felt sheets that prevent the concrete mixture from leaking through the cracks, and save lumber for easy disassembly to use it another time

You should be aware of the need to load the foundation before winter; it is not recommended to leave it free from the walls during the cold period.

Introduction to pile foundations

The next foundation for the building is pile foundations:

bored
pile-screw

Designers determine places for drilling wells, in which a frame of metal reinforcement is installed and concrete is poured. The wells are reinforced with roofing felt lining and casing; they are removed after the solution has hardened; for those wishing to increase the pile strength, they are left untouched.

Pile holes are drilled using technical devices or simply by hand using the well-known TISE technology. Its feature is the excellent design of the pillars, expanded at the base, which increases the supporting area and the ability to resist ground buckling forces.

A hand drill is used to hollow out wells.

Built into it:

sliding rod
folding plow
controlled cord

The plow's own weight lowers it, holds it in place using a two-link locking mechanism, and can be raised to a vertical position by a cord. A locking screw secures the extension of the rod to different lengths.

During the drilling process, the plow is removed, rotational movements are carried out with the drill, and, as necessary, it is raised to the surface to clean off adhering soil.

Using a plow, the lower part of the well is expanded, each time drilling continues with a change in the direction of rotation. The hole is filled with reinforcement cage and concrete mortar. A roofing felt jacket is placed in the resulting cylinder, protecting it from destruction by soil forces acting on the column.

The completion of the pile foundation is the laying of a grillage in the form of a reinforced concrete or metal beam. Its task is to ensure that all foundation parts form a single whole so that the expected loads are evenly distributed across all installed piles.

The installation of the grillage takes place both high and low, above the ground or below it. At the same time, a single connection between the house and its extensions is excluded; an individual foundation is created for them, which is separated by expansion joints.

Such actions are necessary due to the difference in load forces. The walls from the building put pressure on the foundation areas in different amounts compared to the porch or terrace. Rammed foundations under buildings can be erected and support not only light wooden or frame houses, but also brick, block, and stone ones.

Groundwater and unreliable soil are not dangerous for them; there were practically no disadvantages from the consequences of exploitation. Pile structures driven deep into the soil, in accordance with the level of its freezing, below this mark, will protect it from soil vibrations due to freezing.

What are screw structures

Builders consider it an economical way to build foundations using piles on screws. Excavation work takes a lot of time and labor; its cost is not considered insignificant, especially if heavy equipment is used.

Installation of screw piles costs less material compared to a strip or slab base. Steel pipes are used to make them.

The structural forms consist of cutting blades that are screwed into the soil, regardless of the designed depth. A part is welded to the top on which the grillage is fixed.

Due to its properties, such a foundation reliably holds in frozen soils.

When a pile is screwed in, the soil around it is compacted by the action of the blades, ensuring the installation of a durable product with reliable support, withstanding heavy loads acting on the base from above.

The installation depth is calculated by the building designers, and the central part is concreted.

To ensure the unity and integrity of the constructive structure of screw piles, they are connected by channels, beams, grillages, the method is chosen according to the requirements of the structure.

The screwed piles are ready to accept the design load immediately after their installation. There is no need to wait for additional conditions through soil shrinkage or long-term hardening of mortar mixtures.

For screws, there are no restrictions in choosing a specific soil, not only from the weakness of the composition, but also from the location. This can be a mountain slope, a coastal strip or a forest area, with the least damage to the natural landscape.

If the soil has a heterogeneous composition, the piles are screwed in unevenly, deepening is carried out as necessary with leveling of the above-ground parts.

The screw method of installing foundations is suitable for all types of buildings, but stone and block houses allow, in addition to installing a grillage, the installation of a monolithic slab in the foundation, which serves as a subfloor. The implementation of pile-screw foundations is carried out regardless of the change of season.

What attracts a shallow foundation?

Private developers most often use shallow foundations. They are somewhat cheaper, and they also suggest combining regular tape with insulation when installing the slab.

To do this, the base is minimally leveled by producing a sand cushion, and insulated using extruded polystyrene foam, eliminating the risk of heaving from frost. The tape is made with a variable cross-section, lighter and more stable.

Each section is calculated for monolithic thickness and reinforced methods. A distinctive feature of such a foundation is an insulated blind area with a floor slab.

The following actions are carried out:

remove the fertile layer
dig a trench to a depth of 50 cm and a width of 1 m
pour sand up to 15 cm and compact it
install formwork with reinforcement cage
carry out concrete pouring

The width of the tape sole is 60 cm with a height of 30 cm.

Insulation is carried out starting from the outer compacted sand backfill; a polystyrene foam plate with an inclined blind area is mounted on it. Use the excavated soil to rework the internal foundation sides.

The surface cells resulting from the formed tape are leveled using sand, insulation materials are installed over the entire surface, reinforcement is applied on top and filled with concrete mortar, obtaining a single monolith of a rigid structure. It is capable of supporting buildings of several floors.

The advantages of foundations with insulated slabs include:

the foundation strip and slab work in unity
the result is an insulated monolith that serves as a rough floor surface

Such a structure should be paid attention to by developers seeking to reduce costs not only on the foundation, but also on the heating season, because the house will be warm in the cold season and cool in the hot season.

Points to note when constructing foundations:

the pillar at the base can have a constant cross-section in the form of a cylinder, a parallelepiped, as well as a variable cross-section, with an expanded lower part
the fence is made with a height of up to 30 cm, otherwise there will be poor underground ventilation
Composite reinforcement can reduce the cost of constructing slab structures
installation of non-buried products is carried out halfway through ground freezing

In order to make the most reliable and high-quality foundation for a house, every homeowner strives to reduce the cost of the work performed, while choosing the most optimal option for the soil, terrain and wallet.

The main task in foundation devices is to install a house on it for a long time, without further problems during its operation; this requires familiarity with this important process, consultation with specialists, so that the construction serves the pleasure of the developer.

The easiest and most reliable way to make a foundation is in the video:

Noticed a mistake? Select it and press Ctrl+Enter to let us know.

foxremont.com

Correct and economical foundation of a country house

There is an unwritten rule that a second home is built to a higher quality. Those who have already walked this thorny path once are ready to follow the prescribed technologies and treat building codes with due respect. And with caution towards all builders without exception.

Why pay more

In construction, it is important that everything is not just “solid”, but done correctly. High costs absolutely do not guarantee high quality and durability. Of course, no matter how trivial it may sound, the main quality of the future home is a good foundation. No matter what is done later, no matter what sophistication is invented when constructing the walls and decorating the house itself, it will not be better than the foundation. Because everything stands on a foundation. On the other hand, who needs extra costs already at the stage of laying the foundation, which significantly increases its cost? And won’t you then have to save on everything in order to somehow get the house under a roof? Look how many abandoned, unfinished boxes stand idle due to the fact that the owner did not initially calculate his strength and resources.

In order to estimate your expenses at this stage of work, you need to decide on the type of foundation. Its choice depends on the bearing capacity of the soil and the depth of its freezing, the level of groundwater under the house, and the characteristics of the building itself. Typically, when constructing private houses, strip, column or slab foundations are used.

Strip foundation is a relatively inexpensive and most quickly erected type of foundation. It looks like a concrete or reinforced concrete “ribbon” that follows the contours of the house and load-bearing walls. Strip foundations are best erected under heavy buildings. The main task of the foundation is to transfer and distribute the load from the house to the soil. Therefore, to reduce the specific load on the ground, the tape is made with a wide base and a thinner main part to reduce weight and save materials. In cross-section it will look like an inverted letter "T". The width of the upper part is planned based on the width of the wall. The foundation is not made too thin only because it is impossible to pour concrete into narrow cracks.

A columnar foundation, also very common, consists of concrete pillar piles that support the house at several key points. A column foundation is cheaper than a strip foundation. It is optimal for the construction of wooden and frame houses without basements and basements on heaving soils with a large freezing depth.

A type of columnar foundation is pile foundation. The piles are driven into the bottom of the pit over the entire area of the future building - a pile field is made with a pitch between piles of an average of 1.5-2 m. Then the bottom of the pit is completely filled with concrete. It is recommended to install such a foundation in weak soils and high groundwater levels. Pile foundations are very reliable, but often the most expensive.

A slab foundation is laid when the site has heaving, heavy and subsiding soil. In this case, the foundation pit for the house is completely filled with concrete. Laying this type of foundation requires large amounts of metal and concrete. To eliminate unnecessary options, it is worth studying first the foundations of buildings built nearby. This will give food for thought, since life itself discards incorrect calculations, leaving, as they say, only time-tested ones.

The next step is to calculate the bearing capacity of the soil. Different soils give different settlements because they differ in properties: some easily allow water to pass through, others retain it; some are fraught with landslides, others are quite stable; Some soils swell greatly when freezing, others only slightly. If we discard stones of natural origin, then the most reliable are homogeneous sandy coarse-grained ones. The foundation does not experience heavy loads from such soils, it settles evenly and does not warp. It is on such soils, if the building design allows, that shallow foundations can be used, which will serve as reliable support for the house. Fine-grained or dusty sand, as well as clay soils, when moistened, become fluid and, freezing in the cold winter, “heave”. The result of this process is a large load on the foundation, as a result of which the house may warp and cracks will appear on the walls. The way out is simple - deepen the base of the foundation below the freezing depth of the soil.

Another important characteristic of soils is the level of groundwater. If the freezing level is below the groundwater level, then soil swelling can be expected in winter. Moreover, the force of swelling is such that it can lift the building and change its geometry. The solution here is to install a buried foundation, the base of which will be below the freezing level. On sandy soil for a light wooden house, it is enough to lay columns - ordinary concrete blocks. If the soil is heaving, it is better to make a good sand and gravel preparation for the posts. Spending money on a concrete strip or a monolithic slab is not very wise. Making a strong foundation for a frame house is also throwing money away. A heavy brick house is another matter; you have to try hard. And an “economical” shallow foundation is not the best solution here, and in operation it requires constant attention and control.

It is imperative to monitor every stage of the construction of the facility. Check the foundation frame, if the reinforcement was welded, make sure there are no burns. If it is twisted, with wire, check all the dressings. Be sure to check how well the formwork is fastened - if the fastening is poor, the concrete will simply unravel the formwork.

You need to start installing the foundation only on a compacted base. The soil must be compacted, otherwise subsidence is inevitable over time. For compaction, rolling with various rollers, compaction with rammers or vibration is used. The standard design of a country house with a monolithic foundation, two or three floors, implies the sufficiency of B20 concrete. The B30 brand makes you think about the honesty of the builders. It is necessary to take control samples from the mixer tray, casting 10x10x10 cubes from them directly on the spot. After 28 days, any laboratory for little money will issue a verdict on what was actually purchased and filled there. This operation should always be performed. When building a foundation, it is advisable to use factory-made concrete; it is easier to comply with all technological nuances at the enterprise. But even in this case, the monolith should be constructed using vibration. Under the influence of vibration, the number of pores in concrete is reduced and the strength of the foundation increases. The pores themselves are not dangerous; even with them, the concrete remains strong. But the moisture that gets into the pores, freezing, breaks the concrete.

And you shouldn’t rush to start building a house immediately after completing the zero cycle. No matter what concrete is used, wall structures cannot be erected a week after pouring the foundation. From the moment of construction of the foundation until it is fully loaded, at least a month must pass. This time is necessary for the concrete to gain strength.

domidei.ru

Which foundation will be the cheapest for a house: review, tips

When starting construction, first of all, the issue of choosing a location and project is decided. In this case, it is necessary to pay attention to the following important factors:

plan of the area, settlement;
terrain;
the shape of the site where construction is proposed, the surrounding buildings, structures and green spaces;
the location of the building site relative to the cardinal directions, which in the future will seriously affect the living conditions in the house.

As you know, the foundation of a house bears the main load, so it must be strong and reliable, but if you want to make it as cheap as possible, you should not be too zealous, because shortcomings or possible mistakes can subsequently have a very negative impact.

Read also: How to repair and strengthen the foundation of an old wooden house

When talking about how to choose the cheapest foundation, you should also take into account what the building will be like, whether it is a frame house or garage, hangar, bathhouse or shed, as well as what material it is supposed to be built from.

In some cases, if the construction is not too massive, you can choose the option of a columnar or pile foundation, which, as practice shows, is the cheapest. Moreover, if the nature of the soil and climatic conditions allow, you can save a little on some materials, and the laying depth may vary. The use of such progressive and relatively lightweight materials as foam blocks or aerated concrete can also lighten the load on the foundation.

Read also: How to correctly calculate a pile foundation with a grillage

A simple columnar foundation is made by driving piles into the ground to a depth of up to two meters along the entire perimeter of the foundation. First, holes are drilled with a drill, into which pre-prepared roofing felt sleeves are inserted. The bottom of the pit, with the exception of the holes, must be filled with crushed stone and then filled with concrete mortar. Such a foundation, in addition to its tangible economic advantages, is also good for constructing buildings on slopes or on moving soil.

First of all, you need to make a schematic marking of the area of land where work is expected to be done, marking the location of the support pillars. Then, in the places where the pillars are supposed to be installed, holes are made in the form of mini-pits up to 80 centimeters deep, the bottom of which is well compacted. A sand cushion is laid at the bottom of the pits, the layer thickness is up to 20 centimeters, and if the soil is sandy, then crushed stone or gravel about 10 centimeters thick is laid.

Subsequently, pillars and reinforcing structures are installed, formwork is created and concrete is poured. After the concrete mixture hardens, the wooden formwork can be dismantled, after which waterproofing work is carried out by pouring liquid bitumen and final concreting of the foundation. As you can see, everything is more or less simple, and on the Internet and on YouTube you can easily find a lot of video instructions that clearly show what and how to do when building a columnar foundation.

The most common and easiest to construct is a strip foundation, but it will cost several times more than a columnar or pile foundation. A strip foundation is suitable for more massive buildings, and its peculiarity is that it can be erected either by preparing a pit and pouring a concrete mixture, or using bricks. Such a foundation is called “ribbon” because it resembles a tape that encircles the perimeter of the house, repeating its outline; in addition, during its construction, sections are made under the load-bearing structures inside the perimeter.

As in other cases, a pit is dug to lay it, and, taking into account the climate, its depth should be approximately 20 centimeters below the soil freezing line. Before pouring concrete, wooden formwork is made, which is removed after the solution has completely hardened. For a wooden house, a shallow strip foundation is suitable, which, being a type of strip foundation, is made not from concrete mortar, but from a monolithic concrete strip with a depth of up to 60 centimeters into the soil.

To summarize, it is worth noting that the question of choosing an option when laying the foundation should not only be based on the economic component. It is important to remember that the foundation is the fundamental structure of the house, and the condition of the building for many decades, for all the years of its operation, depends on how strong it is and, so to speak, fundamental. You should not save where there is a prospect of subsequently encountering unforeseen and very unpleasant circumstances, which will predictably lead to the need, at best, for repairs and reconstruction and, therefore, to additional financial expenses.

svoidomstroim.ru

Which foundation is cheaper? How to save money on foundation construction?

When planning the construction of a building, you should decide in advance what material the house, bathhouse or garage will be built from in order to understand the load that the foundation will have to transfer to the load-bearing soil of the foundation.

If you are planning a capital structure with brick walls, then the foundation must be solid, capable of supporting a massive structure, and if it is a small log house, then the foundation can be made less bulky and cheaper.

But, no matter what foundation you choose, there will always be opportunities to save on construction.

Let's look at what the cost of the foundation consists of and how it can be reduced without reducing the load-bearing capacity and reliability of the foundation being laid.

How is the cost of the foundation determined?

What does the cost of building a reliable foundation consist of?

As a rule, to determine the cost, you should add up the costs of:

geological study of soils at the construction site;
foundation design;
purchase and transportation of construction materials;
excavation of a pit;
cost of installing reinforcement cage and formwork;
wages for workers employed in construction.

It is clear that without any of these points, construction will be impossible. This means that it is necessary to find an opportunity to reduce the cost of construction by optimizing some positions in this technological chain of foundation construction.

Let's see what you can save on here.

How can you save money when building a foundation?

In order to reduce construction costs and be sure that the building will serve you faithfully for many years without requiring major repairs, you should contact specialists who have extensive experience in performing such work.

By contacting geologists with extensive experience, you will be able to rely on their recommendations on choosing the location of construction on the selected site, depending on its topography and soils.

An experienced geologist will tell you where a more massive foundation is needed and where you can get by with less.

The same applies to the choice of the designer who will calculate the foundation. A novice specialist, whose cost of work may not be too high, at the same time can design an unreasonably expensive foundation, wanting to hedge his bets due to the lack of sufficient experience.

Where it would be possible to get by with reinforcement with a diameter of 12 mm, he will use 14 mm in the project, and instead of M150 grade concrete - M400 concrete.

As you yourself understand, the foundation will have a multiple safety margin, but it will also cost many times more.

Therefore, it is better to choose a specialist who will be confident in his calculations and will help make the optimal choice of materials, which will subsequently be included in the specification.

Drainage device

If you are planning construction on heaving soils, where high water occurs in the spring, and during the year the groundwater level rises quite high, then the best way to reduce the cost of building a foundation here would be to install drainage.

Laying formation or wall drainage will help lower the groundwater level, make the soil drier and, as a result, less susceptible to the forces of frost heaving.

In addition, wet soil freezes to a greater depth than soil from which moisture is removed by drainage. This will save on the depth of the foundation base.

Foundation waterproofing

Another opportunity to reduce the cost of building a foundation is to ensure its reliable waterproofing.

After all, even on moist soils, the foundation, reliably protected from ground moisture, will reliably support the building.

Which foundation is the cheapest?

The cost of the foundation directly depends on the design of the structure being erected, on the required load-bearing capacity and on the foundation soils lying on the site.

Let's look at what the price of several different types of foundations consists of in order to get an idea of the ratio of their costs.

Foundation for a log house

As a rule, foundations for a log house are the cheapest, since the weight of a structure made of logs or timber is not as great as when built from brick or other piece materials.

In the case of log house construction, shallow strip foundations are often used, as well as columnar foundations made of asbestos pipes, foundations on TISE piles or on screw piles.

It is also possible to erect small buildings made of wood on columnar brick foundations or on shallow rubble foundations.

When constructing such foundations, a minimum of labor costs is required. Instead of a deep tape, in these cases small holes are dug for columnar supports or trenches 70-100 cm deep for a shallow tape.

But a more massive structure cannot be built on such a foundation. Therefore, if you are planning to build a 2-3 storey house from blocks or bricks, you will need a more reliable foundation.

Foundation for a brick house

In the case of a brick building, you can also use columnar foundations, which are cheaper than strip foundations. But in this case, you will need to install a reliable grillage - a horizontal part of the foundation connecting the pillars (piles), which bears the load from the walls being built.

In addition, the composition of the soil at the construction site will also affect the cost of the foundation for a brick house or bathhouse. Building a foundation on dry sandy soils will cost much less than building a foundation on waterlogged and heaving soils, which will either need to be replaced with soil that has more suitable characteristics for construction or the base of the foundation should be lowered below weak soils to rest on a more reliable foundation.

As you can see, when constructing brick buildings, savings will depend directly on the geological situation on the site.