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If your soil drains well and is not expansive then you have little chance of frost heave no matter what type of foundation you build. That is why this is the default foundation type that most inspectors want you to build. If you do a basement or crawlspace foundation (PT wood or concrete) AND it is properly waterproofed with the footings at or below frost level AND you put in footing drains and backfill with drainage material such as crushed rock, THEN you can likely build a solid foundation even in poor soil. If it fails the first test and turns out to be expansive, then you are likely to have foundation problems, especially with shallow pier foundations.
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Is it slippery when you rub two fingers together or is it gritty? If you pack it into a jar and mark the top of the soil level and then put it in the freezer, does it expand as it freezes? Does it have expansive clay? Dig out some of the saturated soil at the bottom of the above hole.Easy to Install: Treated wood piles can be driven into the ground with a pile driver and are easy to install. Affordable: Treated wood piles are generally less expensive than pier blocks made of concrete. (Best done in wet season when soil is fully saturated.) Treated wood piles have several advantages over concrete pier blocks. Fill the hole up to the top with water and see if it will drain in 15 minutes or less. Keep pouring several buckets of water in until the soil is fully saturated. Does it drain? Did a hole down to footing depth.Here are some guidelines on a simple soil test: It would be a good idea to do a bit of testing on the soil. This can be a problem for poured and block foundations as well, but not usually as much. Concrete pier blocks with wood caps are similar to concrete deck blocks in their function and use. The deck will be about 12-18 inches from the ground.Piers have worked well for most folks here, but clay soils can freeze and move piers around. Hope someone will find it helpful, or tell me why it isn't to code, unsafe, and should not be used. I dug enough to put some compacted paver base under the block and keep the block underground when done:īTW, I used the same post bases on the concrete patio part. Put a ziplock bag on the threaded rod of the post base (to protect the threads), pushed into concreteĪfter concrete cured, used the blocks as you usually would. stapled a couple of scrap pieces to keep in place
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measured the needed elevation, cut the tube to size (between 4 to 10 inches) These include lightweight blocks suitable for external walls, as well as dense blocks more.
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cardboard tube, 4 inch ID (go one for free at L***s - carpet section has a lot of empty tubes from carpet rolls - just ask) Jewson concrete blocks cater to a variety of different applications, so that you can get the building supplies you need for your upcoming project. Attach the post to the metal bracket using the screws provided. Attach the metal bracket to the concrete pier block using the screws provided. Place the concrete pier block in the hole and tamp it down until it is level. So here's my solution, let me know if I'm going to be sorry down the road Dig a hole in the ground that is slightly larger than the concrete pier block. I'm working on a low floating deck sitting in part on a concrete patio and part on the ground, and wanted to share my solution for adjustable concrete piers based on deck blocks and elevated post bases.ĭue to uneven ground, and me not willing to dig and pour concrete posts, I was looking for a solution to create deck footings of various types, preferably adjustable post installation to accommodate uneven vertical movements.