|
| Author |
Message |
rodwilsonsr
Member
|
# Posted: 14 Jul 2024 09:46am
Reply
Hi all,
I bought a cabin in northern VT about 6 years ago. Sitting at 1700 feet elevation on a "hill". It's quite a wonderful spot with an epic view of the presidential range.
I have been working on the place to turn it into a year round off grid home for the family and we are moving in next week.
I have not paid much attention to the foundation as this cabin was built 20 years ago, has some minor settling, but everything overall appears to be solid.
I had a contractor over, and he pointed out that the footings for the foundation are at grade level. I just about passed out, because all I know is that footings "should be" below the frost line.
We did some discovery and found that the footings are certainly at grade level. There is anywhere from 1-5 inches of material under the footings and then that is sitting on bedrock.
The area where the house sits is fairly level, meaning not much of a slope to the ground.
Does anyone have similar foundation installs? I'm wondering how much potential trouble I could be in with having to support the house structure and dig out to repour down to bedrock?
Also, I have no idea if the guy that built this pinned anything to the bedrock.
Thanks for reading
Rod
|
|
Brettny
Member
|
# Posted: 14 Jul 2024 11:42am
Reply
Well it's kind of hard to change now.
Either way I would pin to bed rock with out hesitation.
|
|
FishHog
Member
|
# Posted: 14 Jul 2024 02:54pm
Reply
Well it’s pretty hard to get below the frost line if you’re on bedrock. And bedrock is about the best foundation possible.
I sure wouldn’t be concerned but you could try to verify if it’s pinned or not or just do so
|
|
Grizzlyman
Member
|
# Posted: 14 Jul 2024 10:00pm
Reply
I think you’re probably fine. It’s been there for 20 years as you say and in good shape so it’s most likely fine. Look at it his way- if you have to redo it, you’ll have to redo it- So why redo it if you don’t have to?
Also- I’m not sure how you would pin it to the bedrock at this juncture/ usually you drill rebar in before you pour. Either you’ll have to pour some more, drill through the footings and risk cracking them with an ultra long hammer drill bit, or strap them somehow to a pin in the bedrock. I don’t know if that’s worth it- since it hasn’t moved in 20 years. Also the surrounding soil that is helping hold it in place is full of roots (since they can’t grow downward and spread horizontal instead), and rock chunks so it’s probably dimensionally stable and helping hold the footings in place.
|
|
spencerin
Member
|
# Posted: 15 Jul 2024 12:47am
Reply
What type of "material" is between the footings and bedrock?
But, as has been said already, you've had it for 6 years without problem, it's been in place for 20, if there haven't been any problems by now, I wouldn't worry about it if I were you.....
|
|
springfieldco
Member
|
# Posted: 9 May 2025 06:21am
Reply
Since the footings sit on bedrock, that’s actually a strong base—even if they’re at grade. Frost heave is less of an issue when you’re directly on stable rock. It’s worth having a structural engineer take a look to confirm things are secure, but you may not need to dig or repour if there’s no movement or damage showing.
|
|
gcrank1
Member
|
# Posted: 9 May 2025 10:12am
Reply
Id shoot the corners with a laser level and see if anything was seriously out of level indicating possible settling. If it is all pretty good then given the time it has been there, no worries.
Fwiw, I did that on my '83-'84 build that was just on 'floating' silo block short stacked piers (on a sand/gravel wooded hill. In 30+ years I only had to shim one block by maybe 1/2".
|
|
|
