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Posted by Bebe on June 11, 2008, 3:09 pm
My house was just condemned after severe flooding caused one of the
basement walls to collapse. I intend to tear down and rebuild, but
after years of sewer line and flooding problems, I don't want a
basement anymore.
So, my question is, can I just fill in the basement and put down a
slab foundation?? Or will the ground be too unstable to build upon?
Thanks for any input.
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Posted by dpb on June 11, 2008, 3:19 pm
Bebe wrote:
...
> So, my question is, can I just fill in the basement and put down a
> slab foundation?? Or will the ground be too unstable to build upon?
It can be done, yes. Will need it done professionally, however, in
order to get it filled in and compacted/prepared adequately. Just a guy
w/ a 'dozer shoving some dirt around and driving around over it a little
ain't agonna' duit...ideally you would have an engineer evaluate the
site, soils, etc., and provide a plan.
--
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Posted by Jack S on June 11, 2008, 9:34 pm
> Bebe wrote:
> ...
>> So, my question is, can I just fill in the basement and put down a
>> slab foundation?? Or will the ground be too unstable to build upon?
>
> It can be done, yes. Will need it done professionally, however, in order
> to get it filled in and compacted/prepared adequately. Just a guy w/ a
> 'dozer shoving some dirt around and driving around over it a little ain't
> agonna' duit...ideally you would have an engineer evaluate the site,
> soils, etc., and provide a plan.
Isn't a slab likely to break during a future flood? I had a girlfriend in
Texas who had exaclty that happen. During an inundation, there's likely to
be some differential expansion in the underlying soil.
>
> --
>
>
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Posted by dpb on June 11, 2008, 11:02 pm
Jack S wrote:
>> Bebe wrote:
>> ...
>>> So, my question is, can I just fill in the basement and put down a
>>> slab foundation?? Or will the ground be too unstable to build upon?
>> It can be done, yes. Will need it done professionally, however, in order
>> to get it filled in and compacted/prepared adequately. Just a guy w/ a
>> 'dozer shoving some dirt around and driving around over it a little ain't
>> agonna' duit...ideally you would have an engineer evaluate the site,
>> soils, etc., and provide a plan.
>
> Isn't a slab likely to break during a future flood? I had a girlfriend in
> Texas who had exaclty that happen. During an inundation, there's likely to
> be some differential expansion in the underlying soil.
Just because it did in one instance doesn't mean it would somewhere else
on a properly prepared site -- that's what the engineer is for
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Posted by on June 12, 2008, 8:00 am
> Jack S wrote:
> >> Bebe wrote:
> >> ...
> >>> So, my question is, can I just fill in the basement and put down a
> >>> slab foundation?? Or will the ground be too unstable to build upon?
> >> It can be done, yes. =A0Will need it done professionally, however, in o=
rder
> >> to get it filled in and compacted/prepared adequately. =A0Just a guy w/=
a
> >> 'dozer shoving some dirt around and driving around over it a little ain=
't
> >> agonna' duit...ideally you would have an engineer evaluate the site,
> >> soils, etc., and provide a plan.
>
> > Isn't a slab likely to break during a future flood? I had a girlfriend i=
n
> > Texas who had exaclty that happen. =A0 During an inundation, there's lik=
ely to
> > be some differential expansion in the underlying soil.
>
> Just because it did in one instance doesn't mean it would somewhere else
> on a properly prepared site -- that's what the engineer is for
Differential expansion of soils in Texas is not unheard of because
there are many parts of the state with a high clay content in the
soil. Clay expands when wet, and this may be one reasonalbe
explanation of the situation described. An engineer with local
knowledge of the site would be helpful.
As a general rule of thumb (local conditions may differ), soil would
typically be places in 6-inch layers, compacting each layer to what
engineers call "95% compaction" which is measured with a special
instrument. As was previously stated, you don't want a guy with a
bulldozer just pushing and tamping the dirt down "really good" or it
_will_ settle in the future and cause more problems. This is the very
reason why house foundations are built on "undisturbed" subsoil
instead of fill, as the undisturbed stuff has been sitting there, in a
naturally compacted state, for all of history.
-Theo
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