ᐅ Should the terrace area be excavated during groundwork, or would that make it too deep?

Hello,

Within the next 10 days, the ground for the foundation slab is scheduled to be excavated. The contractor specializing in earthworks recommended having the area for the terrace excavated and compacted at the same time. Do you think this makes sense? I’m concerned that this might result in too deep an excavation, making the house end up too high and requiring sand to be added later.

What are your thoughts?

Kind regards

Why should it be dug too deep? The heights are specified anyway.

Of course, some adjustments will be needed later, as construction work often alters things on site. This way, there will be less mud if rain falls on undisturbed ground during the building phase.

The landscaper uses different (smaller) equipment, and gravel in bulk is naturally cheaper than having it delivered later just for the terrace. I would therefore have the earthworks contractor do everything at once, including the driveway, etc.

Definitely have it done professionally! Otherwise, you’ll be walking through mud throughout the entire construction phase. The landscaping contractor will have to do rework anyway!

The driveway will definitely be prepared in advance.

My understanding was that the terrace would be at the same level as the foundation preparation for the house. For the house, the concrete slab follows, and for the terrace, only gravel is used. In that case, the step height seems quite high to me if the terrace is later finished with a retaining edge of about 10-12 cm (4-5 inches).

Or am I missing something here?

It depends on how your terrace will be constructed later... wood or porcelain stoneware, as this affects the substructure and height.
In any case, if you have gravel laid now, something will still need to go on top later, since the floor structure inside the house will also be added.
I would suggest laying gravel to the same height as the floor slab, so you still have 15-20cm (6-8 inches) of buildup left. Prepare drainage as needed, depending on whether it is necessary.

If recycled material is to be included: it will eventually compress. This is acceptable beneath the lean concrete layer for a house’s foundation slab. We had the sub-base for the terrace and floor slab prepared together. For the terrace, we were then able to remove the recycled material from under the lean concrete layer and replace it with lean concrete. The future driveway to the garage was created as a construction access road that was needed anyway.

Best regards, Gabriele