[AT] [atis] OT - Wooden foundation vs Concrete?

[Stuart Harner]

Hi Mike,

I don't know where you live, but the durability of a wooden basement varies 
by location and more importantly by soil type.

I live in a house that was built in 1983.  It has concrete footings, a 
concrete basement floor and is a split level, meaning, only about 4 or 5 
feet of the basement wall is below grade.  This house was built by someone 
else, and I was leery of it to start with.  A good close inspection changed 
my mind.

It is built with 2X8 green treat studs on 12" centers.  The outside is 
sheeted in 5/8" green treat lumber, then covered with two layers of plastic. 
There has never been any water leakage that I can tell.

Here is what makes this work for my house.  I live on a big old sand pile. 
Word is that the well is 180' deep and it was sand clear to the bottom.  I 
have a little bit of gumbo type soil on the far opposite corner of the 
property (4 acres) and looking at the soil maps for the area, that is likely 
a streak that runs to the SE of that corner, my property only cuts into a 
little bit of it.  The roof has 3' eves but no gutters.  That gets the 
runoff at least 2' away from the basement walls to start with.

After we lived here a few years, I noticed some soil had settled away from 
the foundation and had exposed some of the plastic sheeting, which quickly 
gave up to the UV light.  The solution was to dig down to expose good clean 
plastic and deep enough to work.  I cleaned out the plastic and inspected 
the plywood, it was fine. I took some plastic house siding and slid it under 
the existing drip edge that was just above grade, covering down over the 
still good plastic.  Then back filled the soil and sloped it away from the 
house.

As long as the soil is well drained and is of a type that does not swell 
with wet/dry or freeze/thaw cycles, I think a properly constructed wooden 
basement will last just as long as the house.

I have lived in houses with good poured concrete basements and ones with 
bad. The good (in SD) was compounded by good soil (old gravel pit) and will 
probably last forever.  The bad (in ND) was installed by a lazy crew that 
added so much water the mix would flow around the entire basement forms from 
one corner.  This was compounded by really poor gumbo type soil that would 
swell up if a cow peed a mile away.  I am not sure a properly done concrete 
job would have stood up, but the soil ground that lazy job to pulp in just a 
few years.  I also had a concrete block house in MN that was build in 1954 
and did not have a crack in it.  I was leery of that one until I inspected 
it and found no cracks.  As it turned out, it was on a streak of sand too. 
My current house is in ND.

There are some pros and cons, but one pro that is often over looked is that 
if there ever is any damage, you can dig down and repair it.

Old tractor ref.:  I was building terraces with my WD when I found the gumbo 
soil on the far corner of the property.

Stuart
Central ND


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <mpnc282 at juno.com>
To: <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2011 9:17 AM
Subject: [atis] [AT] OT - Wooden foundation vs Concrete?


> Hi all, I have a question for any builders or foundation guys on the list. 
> My wife and I are looking at a house to buy, it was built in 2004, and it 
> has a wooden foundation, in lieu of concrete or block. It appears to be 
> 2x8 treated lumber used for studs, and 3/4" treated plywood against the 
> dirt. I have never run across a foundation like this before, and it does 
> have me concerned. Does anyone know of any drawbacks to this type of 
> foundation? The basement appears to be dry and has no evidence of water 
> leakage, but foundation problems down the road are the last thing anyone 
> wants, including me. Any input or advice would be greatly appreciated. 
> Tractor reference, I would need to add a Farmall C with a belly mower to 
> keep the place mowed.Thanks,Mike M
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