Centerline Construction Chat, Episode 1: Footings
Categories: Centerline Construction Chat, New Home Plans | Posted: August 26, 2010
Watch our video to learn about one of the first steps in the construction process, the footings, what they’re built from, how they work and why they need to be there.
The first step in building a home:
The Footings of a residential coastal home
We use threaded rods to build he footings. Here, there are 5/8 inch galvanized threaded rods which are used to assist in holding down the foundation and for wind protection.
The rods are welded to a piece of rebar underneath the support structure and placed strategically around the wall of the location with a nut and bolt on top to lock it down.
In the ditches of the footings is a series of chairs, with rebars placed on top to elevate them in the ditch so that when the concrete is poured, they will be suspended in the middle of the column for strength, holding the concrete together better.
The rebar is tied onto the chair with a small wire during the footing operation to stabilize it while the concrete is poured.
During construction, we dig the footings according to the engineer’s specifications. These footings are 24 inches wide and 12 inches deep. The size and total weight of home determine how wide and deep the footings are. There are a lot of rods in the foundation here because of the 130-mile-an-hour wind-zone in this area of North Carolina.
On the corners of the footings, there are small nails which will locate the foundation and framing walls on that part of the footing.
We pour 3,000 psi concrete, and it takes about 7 days for the concrete to cure to about 90% hardness and another 28 days for it to get to about 95-96% hardness. Normally you can start laying the foundation within 2 or 3 days of pouring the concrete, depending on weather conditions.
The wood pieces around the outside perimeter of the lot are called batter boards which establish the height of the foundation wall and allows the contractor to line up the cross-footing with the actual plans.
If you have any questions, please contact Jeff at Centerline Development at (910) 776-0044 or Jeff@gocenterline.com
Be on the lookout for our next episode of Centerline Construction Chat to learn more about the process of building a home. Thank you!
