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Posted by Kris Krieger on August 28, 2007, 5:19 pm
> "Kris Krieger"> wrote
>>I have a question. We've all seen and heard the stories about wooden
>> houses being lifted off their foundations byu flood waters.
>>
>> What I'm wondering is this. Are houses/other buildings of concrete
>> construction (block, o\poured, whatever) part of the foundation?
>> IOW, are the outer walls "fused" so to speak to the concrete
>> foundation, and as such, how water-tight are they, or how water-tight
>> *could* they be...?
>>
>>
>> What I'm wonderin is whether it's possible to pour walls and
>> foundation to be one unit, or even, if the foundation could be poured
>> such tat it would come partway up and the framing would go inside of
>> it, and then the exterior sheathing etc. would go on top or perhaps
>> even over it...?
>>
>> Just how water-tight could a place be made?
>>
>> Links would be great, as well as any info or thoughts on htis. I'm
>> just trying to think whetehr there are better ways of coping with
>> flooding, than
>> having stick-houses that jsut sort of sit on top of a concrete pad.
>> IT seems like ther ehas got to be a better way, so I'm jsut
>> wondering.
>
> Yes, and no.
> In FL a CBS house on a monolithic footing is about as *bonded* as it
> gets. You have to have a *break* in the system otherwise it become
> almost impossible to build.
Is that in part because you need to make room for expansion and
contraction? ((This prob sounds like a stupid Q., but I don't know and
i'm trying to think of some way to discourage water incursion. OK, the
obvious way would be to not build in floodplains, and also, to build
houses on "mounds" just in case of a "freak flood".))
At any rate, thanks for the following description -= it's very
interesting - is this similar to how earthquake-resistant places aer
built? I recall having seen, at a Home Show back in California, a seciot
of "cinder-block" wall showing them all tied together using rebar.
> Monolithic footings are footings that are poured at the same time as
> the slab and it all cures as one piece of solid concrete.
> Around the perimeter of the slab 4' long dowel rods (5/8" d. reinf.
> rods) protrude up from the footing and the concrete blocks are laid
> around these rods with the rods going up inside the block cores.
> 8' long rods are then dropped down from the top and tied to the dowel
> rods and the block cores are filled with concrete.
> Also, along the top of the block walls is whats called a concrete
> tiebeam, which is solid concrete with a series of horizontal reinf
> rods inside, which are tied to the vertical rods coming up through the
> block cores. What this sort of amounts to is one solid piece of
> masonry consisting of floor, footings, walls and tiebeam.
> Very strong, very heavy.
> Concrete and concrete blocks are porous and not waterproof.
Oh! That's tuight! Well, sorry for my "duuuuuh" moment there ;)
> What actually makes the walls somewhat waterproof is the paint that
> goes on the outside of the walls.
>
> But anyways, door openings and windows are not waterproof so the whole
> thing becomes moot at a certain point.
Hmmm, that *is* a point...
>
> I designed a building on Fort Myers Beach where the requirements were
> that the building MUST be waterproof to a height of 8' above finished
> floor because of the structures orientation to an open body of salt
> water and the flood plane. Because this building had large areas of
> glass on the exterior walls all sorts of people had to get involved
> with it. One more thing, this building also had to NOT float.
> You see, whan you design a building to be watertight, when a tidal
> surge occurs the building will turn into a boat and try to float away.
>
Well, that's intereting. Waterproof to a height of 8' - I'm guessing
that you had to have stairs going up to the door(s), and then dopwn into
the lower level...? Or was there a way to make the door(s) sealable...?
I'd be very interested in seeing a photo, if you have a link.
Thanks for the info -
- K.
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