Our Foundation

We've been told that we're going a little overboard with the foundation on our house. Kristyne is a Minnesota girl, and both Steve and Kristyne were interested in the energy savings that could be realized by burying a portion of the house underground. That meant we were looking for the opportunity to have a walkout basement in whatever house we were going to build. Going any further than a basement doesn't make a lot of sense in California. Excavating is tough enough to start with, but reinforcing below-grade concrete to withstand earthquake stresses is another issue altogether. Still, we did include the basement in the design so now let's see how it goes!

The foundation itself will be above grade a few feet near the south end of the house. At that end we plan to use a rock facing over the block wall if the budget holds out. On the interior, the block wall will be covered with 2x4 furring and drywall. The interior will look no different than the interior of any other house.

6 July 2006

6 July 2006

6 July 2006

6 July 2006

6 July 2006

The marking was done by setting a line parallel to the road easement markers, creating a perimeter square for the main section of the house, and then adjusting for the prow angles, the entry, and the sunroom.

Stakes, flourescent paint, string, and rocks were used to mark the location of the foundation walls.

This is the north end of the house, which will be nearest to the garage.

This overview shows the front or east side of the house. The box sticking out is the foundation under the porch and entry, which protrude 9'6" from the front of the house.

This image looks to the north of the home site, where the garage will be located. The main floor will be at grade level on the north and east side of the house, and at the northwest corner of the house. The remainder of the house will have exposed foundation with the ground sloping away from it.

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6 July 2006

The marking was done by setting a line parallel to the road easement markers, creating a perimeter square for the main section of the house, and then adjusting for the prow angles, the entry, and the sunroom.

This page was last modified on Saturday, 28 April 2007