What Are Your Top Tips For Choosing The Best Foundation For Your New House?

One of the things about designing your dream home that may not be keeping you up at night, but should be, is the cornerstone of your home. It’s easy to get wrapped up in home decor features, floor plans, paint colors, appliances, and landscaping, but you really have to start with the basics, and that includes the foundation of house planning.

There are a number of variables that contribute to the narrowing down of the right foundation for your house. Such examples include whether the land on which your house would be constructed is made up of sand or clay soil and whether it is wetland, rocky or flood-prone. At the end of the day, however, the type of soil in your building lot will largely decide the type of base you will need to sustain your house.

When building a new house or even remodeling an old house, you should follow any of these tips to ensure a solid foundation:

Soil evaluation

It would be a good idea to carry out a proper soil assessment before building a home. If the house is constructed on a pier and a beam or on a concrete slab, the foundation must be solid and strong. The soil of the soil is a component that contributes to the strength of the base. It helps to strengthen it.

Proper grading and other formalities

A newly constructed house should have proper grading, proper soil conditions piercing, proper drainage, etc. In the construction, there should be ample gutters and downspouts. The base should also be waterproof and the contractor should mount a vapor barrier with proper vents. The monitoring of the entire house building process will help to ensure all the formalities listed above.

Foundation inspection

The inspection of the foundation of the building, along with the sidewalk and the driveway, can help to keep a check on their conditions. It helps to recognise problems and to take steps to fix them or prevent them from repeating. Issues like drainage problems need urgent attention and treatment. Such inspection is particularly necessary during the first few years of construction, as this is the period when the house is going through the heaviest environment.

Things to Consider

  • First of all, the foundation needs to sustain the load of the house you put on it. Depending on the type of house you are constructing and the total size and weight of the load the foundation will have to bear, the foundation must be sturdy enough to carry your house, otherwise you will likely have problems with it. The designer of the house plan that you select would have taken all of these aspects into account when designing the home. If you select a different foundation from the designer’s available options or have a change made for a foundation that is not listed as an option on the plan information page, then again, the designer can ensure that the foundation will sustain the structure. If you want to buy a house plan and manage the foundation on your own, be sure to have a trained designer / architect or engineer sign off on the foundation before you start building.
  • Another crucial consideration to bear in mind when deciding the best residential foundation is to ensure that the foundation stays dry. Is groundwater going to have access to your foundation? A wet base is not a solid foundation. Many non-urban areas need a “perc examination” of the soil before constructing a house to ensure that the soil is adequately percolated by the septic system. Soil that passes a perf test does not have deep (basement) soil problems.
  • In the absence (or even completion) of a perc test, a soil test may be carried out by a local engineering company to determine what kind of soil is present, its moisture content and its compaction properties. Passing a soil test guarantees that the base works properly.
  • In addition, the foundation must be laid on land that is settled and undisturbed in order to prevent changes in support of the foundation that may result in a collapse of the structure. A certified, professional construction contractor can ensure that the conditions are correct before the foundation is excavated and built.
  • Installing gutters and downspouts to redirect moisture from the roof is a safe way to keep excess moisture away from your foundation after building up. Incorporating materials that provide drainage away from your base, such as gravel and sand, will help protect your base from hazardous moisture. If you want to take your foundation ‘s moisture security one step further, consider installing a sub slab drainage pad. Please consult your contractor on this. When a layer of polyethylene sheeting is placed between the drainage pad and the base, water vapor and soil gasses may also be blocked. It can also increase the consistency of your home ‘s air.

Are You Looking for a Company to Build a Foundation for Your New Home? 

Spaulding Concrete has been the SF Bay Area’s top foundation builders for over 30 years.  We’re here to fix your home’s foundation, no matter what problem may exist. We have the specialized equipment, services and professional experience that you need to make permanent improvements to your building’s foundation. To get you started on the right foot, we would be happy to give you a free quote for the repair of the foundation. When you reach out by phone or email we will have one of our foundation experts answer any questions you have and explain how we can restore integrity and structural stability to your home or company building permanently. Successful concrete projects require careful planning and thorough preparation. Spaulding Concrete reviews the site and designs to ensure that the concrete and base structure follows the criteria for the planned use and that the layout and finishes are suitable for the project. The qualified concrete experts at Spaulding Concrete will be on schedule, on budget and meet or exceed standards by careful planning, professional execution, and strict quality control.

To schedule your free quote, contact us today! We are proud to serve Orinda, Lafayette, Moraga, Pleasant Hill, Concord, Martinez, Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood and the surrounding areas.