Hello everyone, I have previously raised the topic of a partial basement/cellar for a building plot with a 19% slope.
Today, a homebuilder told us that, partly due to the high cost of building materials, it would now be more cost-effective to backfill the slope and then build the house on a slab foundation. This doesn’t quite make sense to me, since the backfill material must be supported somehow, for example, by a concrete wall. The sales representative said no, that the stabilized backfill is simply allowed to slope gradually and then planted, creating a new artificial slope.
What does the expert community in this forum think about this?
Today, a homebuilder told us that, partly due to the high cost of building materials, it would now be more cost-effective to backfill the slope and then build the house on a slab foundation. This doesn’t quite make sense to me, since the backfill material must be supported somehow, for example, by a concrete wall. The sales representative said no, that the stabilized backfill is simply allowed to slope gradually and then planted, creating a new artificial slope.
What does the expert community in this forum think about this?
S
sergutsch26 Apr 2022 12:07askforafriend schrieb:
Clutter? Maybe we’re misunderstanding each other. We have a basement that is at ground level on the lower side, leading out to the garden with its own terrace, etc. There you have the perfect multipurpose room / party room / wellness area / granny flat or whatever you want to make of it. Clutter for us might be in the attic 🙂 It’s also true that living needs change over the decades. For example, I can well imagine our dear child having their own space down there with a kitchen between the ages of 18 and 25 – or a relative in need of care requiring help. Or this, or that. You can’t do any of that if you simply fill in the slope.
If you fill in your plot, you’re basically giving up a lot of options. It would be a shame to waste a nice sloped lot when you could make something of it. And if not, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t just buy a flat plot 🙄
By the way, how much do you need in euros to stabilize the slope you artificially created? You have to compare that to the 90k. You quickly realize that you’ve just wasted great space for cheap money. But of course, everyone can decide for themselves.Let’s not get this wrong: of course you can build a walk-out basement into a slope, and there is nothing wrong with that – quite the opposite. If the budget allows it. But the topic of the thread was building on a slope without a basement.W
WilderSueden26 Apr 2022 12:10We spend a lot of time in the Upper Valais region, where the terrain is mostly on slopes, often steep ones. From what I can estimate, the holiday home’s plot is close to a 19% slope. The house was built into the slope, yet there is still a large embankment remaining at the front—approximately 40-45 degrees steep.
Almost nothing grows there except grass and thorny bushes because rainfall quickly runs off on the surface, and due to direct southern sun exposure, the soil dries out very quickly. The grass has to be cut 2-3 times a year with a brush cutter, which is really tough on such a steep slope.
However, you don’t want to build the house into the slope, but free-standing. That means you will have a significantly larger embankment. Last week, I measured it because I planted some small trees into the slope. In the middle, the embankment is about 5.5m (18 feet) long, which results in a loss of around 4m (13 feet) in height and depth. You will have even more than that.
Almost nothing grows there except grass and thorny bushes because rainfall quickly runs off on the surface, and due to direct southern sun exposure, the soil dries out very quickly. The grass has to be cut 2-3 times a year with a brush cutter, which is really tough on such a steep slope.
However, you don’t want to build the house into the slope, but free-standing. That means you will have a significantly larger embankment. Last week, I measured it because I planted some small trees into the slope. In the middle, the embankment is about 5.5m (18 feet) long, which results in a loss of around 4m (13 feet) in height and depth. You will have even more than that.
F
fromthisplace26 Apr 2022 14:47HalloClarissa schrieb:
Prefab house – EBK house (we are going to build a timber-frame house) I wasn’t familiar with the manufacturer, so I looked them up. The sentence on their website made me smile:
"EBK Haus GmbH offers single-story detached and holiday homes in Danish wood design."
Danish design is nice and all, but if you want a provider for a flat foundation and house on top, they’re not the best fit.
sergutsch schrieb:
We brought in and compacted about 700 cubic meters (925 cubic yards) of fill on our plot. This saved us around 90k on the basement. I’d be very interested to see how the house looks on the plot. Are you willing to share some photos?
S
sergutsch26 Apr 2022 15:46fromthisplace schrieb:
...
I would be very interested in the look of the house on the plot. Are you willing to share some photos?There is not much to see yet; the floor slab isn’t even in place. From the street side, you can’t see the fill; the newly established ground level of the plot, as with the original poster, is at street level. Quite unspectacular. The embankment is at the back, with open meadow beyond it.
fromthisplace schrieb:
Danish design is nice and all, but you’re in the wrong place if you’re looking for a “flat slab foundation and house on top” provider.:-) Unfortunately, providers specializing in hillside houses are mostly “the stuff of dreams” here ;-)In addition, companies offering wooden houses are usually reluctant to include living spaces in the basement (whereas general contractors for masonry tend to offer basements more readily). However, I generally recommend including the basement (or the foundation slab) in the scope of the house builder’s services due to the responsibility involved in the critical junction at the top of the foundation wall.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
sergutsch schrieb:
there is not much to see yet,If it isn’t built yet, then surely the plans exist. I would be interested in this “structure” as well.Similar topics