Good morning,
I have a problem. We are building a house with a Swedish slab foundation (load-bearing insulation under the concrete – only on one side is there a strip footing because of the garage attached to the house).
The earthworks company came and, in my opinion, made a mistake.
They excavated the ground according to the soil report down to the load-bearing layer and then backfilled and compacted it with F1 gravel up to street level, 1.9m (6.2 ft) high. BUT:
This bedding layer is only 50cm (20 inches) wider than the house footprint all around.
(The house measures 11.5 x 9m (38 x 30 ft) / The foundation bedding is 12.5 x 10m (41 x 33 ft))
I had heard a long time ago that a foundation bedding should always be larger than the house dimensions by the height of the bedding layer on each side.
So the bedding would need to measure 15.3 x 12.8m (50 x 42 ft) here.
My architect says I should ask the structural engineer. The structural engineer says I should clarify it with the slab manufacturer. – The manufacturer says the earthworks company should know everything. GREAT. Everyone leaves me hanging, and I bet they all know the answer.
In parallel, I have hired an expert who can only come to the site on 27.01. Until then, construction is stopped.
The earthworks company says it’s sufficient because my house won’t be as heavy as others since I’m building with wood and the slab distributes the load evenly into the ground and not at a typical load transfer angle – so they don’t admit any fault.
I’m asking cautiously here in advance if anyone can share experience about what might happen, or if someone has encountered a similar situation.
Thanks and best regards
I have a problem. We are building a house with a Swedish slab foundation (load-bearing insulation under the concrete – only on one side is there a strip footing because of the garage attached to the house).
The earthworks company came and, in my opinion, made a mistake.
They excavated the ground according to the soil report down to the load-bearing layer and then backfilled and compacted it with F1 gravel up to street level, 1.9m (6.2 ft) high. BUT:
This bedding layer is only 50cm (20 inches) wider than the house footprint all around.
(The house measures 11.5 x 9m (38 x 30 ft) / The foundation bedding is 12.5 x 10m (41 x 33 ft))
I had heard a long time ago that a foundation bedding should always be larger than the house dimensions by the height of the bedding layer on each side.
So the bedding would need to measure 15.3 x 12.8m (50 x 42 ft) here.
My architect says I should ask the structural engineer. The structural engineer says I should clarify it with the slab manufacturer. – The manufacturer says the earthworks company should know everything. GREAT. Everyone leaves me hanging, and I bet they all know the answer.
In parallel, I have hired an expert who can only come to the site on 27.01. Until then, construction is stopped.
The earthworks company says it’s sufficient because my house won’t be as heavy as others since I’m building with wood and the slab distributes the load evenly into the ground and not at a typical load transfer angle – so they don’t admit any fault.
I’m asking cautiously here in advance if anyone can share experience about what might happen, or if someone has encountered a similar situation.
Thanks and best regards