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car94401
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# Posted: 30 Apr 2015 16:59
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Hello all. I am planning on building either an A-frame or a 24x24 sloped roof cabin in Nova Scotia. I am completely confused about foundations. Any links on how to build or what kind to build are appreciated. I will have plumbing and septic I hope so would need that in. Nova Scotia has a lot of snow in the winter sometimes. I don't want a conventional oil fuel furnace so would use a fireplace and electric baseboard to heat. Any thoughts or links are greating appreciated! Many thanks from Alberta!
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rockies
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# Posted: 30 Apr 2015 18:16
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You will probably put it on piers because of the fact that getting a concrete truck out to a remote (or semi-remote) location is usually impossible. Still, if you choose concrete piers there is all that digging, form work, mixing bags of concrete by hand, etc. You could try "Techno-Metal Posts" which screw into the ground.
http://www.technometalpost.com/en/dealers/canada-2/
The have a dealer in Sackville Nova Scotia. The posts are set in place with a small front loader type machine, and once they are in you can build on them immediately. Just send the company your plans and they will calculate the size and number of posts needed, and they can install them in an afternoon. They'll give you a certificate for inspections too.
What are you going to do about hot water? I'm going to use an Empyre Elite 100 indoor wood furnace.
http://profab.org/profabbrochures/file_817977R01_Elite_Brochure_web_.pdf
It sits in a little out building and heats water for both radiant floor tubing and also for showers, sink, washer, etc. The nice thing is you don't lose any floor space by having your heat source in a small cabin, and you can also run it when the weather is warm since all the excess heat is kept out in the outbuilding. These furnaces are a lot like those outdoor boilers that are advertised, but you're not out in a field stocking it up in the rain or snow. Everything's indoors.
For the connection of water or septic pipes to the cabin, you'll have to build a small chase from the ground to the underside of the cabin to help protect them and keep them warm. There are also small electric cables you can get to wrap the pipes with so that they don't freeze up during the winter.
If you go to a composting toilet you might get away with a much smaller septic system. A marine urine diverting toilet is a great choice.
http://natureshead.net/
Most people don't know that with composting toilets, as soon as you add urine to the composting mix it stops the breakdown of the solids for a while. These toilets keep the urine in a separate container so you compost a lot faster.
Have you got to the point of actually designing what you want?
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bldginsp
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# Posted: 30 Apr 2015 19:54 - Edited by: bldginsp
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How long do you want your building to last? A good foundation that will last a long time will be expensive and difficult, or you may opt for a much easier foundation that will settle in odd directions over time.
The best foundation is a continuous concrete spread footing that runs around the perimeter of the building. Next choice down is poured concrete piers in deep holes spaced every 4 to 6 feet or so. Worst and easiest is to put precast piers right on the surface of the dirt.
To make a good foundation that will last you need to dig to or below the local frost depth. When the earth freezes it heaves or expands and if this happens under your concrete it will lift it and throw things out of whack. Concrete below the frost line stands the best chance of stability.
Can you get a backhoe in and a concrete truck? If not a continuous spread footing would be hard. A backhoe can go where a concrete truck cannot sometimes, so you could hire a backhoe to get in with a boring bit to make holes for deep piers. Then get a mixer and pour the piers in sonotubes.
There are other designs like the techno posts described above, or digging a trench and filling it with gravel and then putting PT lumber on the gravel or concrete blocks filled with hand mix grout. It's best to use concrete or stone to get the wood as high off the dirt as possible to keep away from moisture, the destroyer of all things wood.
Match your foundation to your desires, budget and circumstance. I personally put in a spread footing but now I'm broke and can't afford to frame it up yet. But 20 years from now I'll have a solid cabin, rather than a wiggly floor
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toyota_mdt_tech
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# Posted: 30 Apr 2015 20:10
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If you can get a septic system in there, you can get a cement truck in there. Go full footing/stemwall and dont look back.
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Steve_S
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# Posted: 30 Apr 2015 20:55
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I think while all of the above are acceptable, you need to know what is under foot such as it is. That is what will ultimately decide which type of foundation is most appropriate for the specific regional soils, sub-soils & depth of bed rock.
If you are considering "baseboard heat" which is the single worst offender in energy efficiency you can be certain to add a minimum of 25kWh per day to your usage over winter for that space. Hydro isn't cheap and it will not be going down in price. There are many more efficient systems available for heating. Radiant Heat, Hydronic Baseboards (variable) can be fueled by different sources, such as electric, propane/gas, even wood boiler as Rockies pointed out.
If your going to have a huge roof surface as an A-Frame provides, you may consider taking advantage of that for solar installation (now or future). Solar Panels for electric _or_ solar heating panels (that's tricky in NS but doable).
Building from scratch means you can design and build it thinking about future potential additions or modifications is wise, rather than trying to retrofit after the build. We have all experienced the good ol' "Damn it, wish I'd a thought of that while I was building, now I got to ----- "
Something that may be of interest is this Magestik Foundations who have kits suitable for DIY and these are appropriate in our Canadian Climates. I looked into those for my build and a 20x20 came out to around 3,200.00 with all rebar and everything. Add foam cost & concrete. The concrete estimate from a "Mix on site" concrete co was 1,100 with fibre reinforcement. That allowed for me to put in-floor radiant heat plumbing. Basically, all in, would have been around 5K...
I have to admit that I personally like a proper FPSF (Frost Protected Slab Foundation) as it works well in Canada.
REF PDF file @ publications.gc.ca NH15-457-1998-eng.pdf
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Don_P
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# Posted: 1 May 2015 06:50
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When most people mention the potential problems with piers they talk about possible settlement or upheaval. The other concern is their lack of lateral stability. A crawlspace or basement built of walls rather than posts takes the horizontal wind/seismic loads from the building above and resists those loads along the length of the walls. A pier overturns at much lower lateral loads than the length of a wall. That is why building codes ask for engineering when using posts to support a building.
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toyota_mdt_tech
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# Posted: 1 May 2015 08:37
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An additional note, its tough to keep critters out of a post and pier cabin. A full footing/stemwall with an interior access point is what I did, so far, zilch intruders. Its been 7 years now.
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car94401
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# Posted: 1 May 2015 16:31
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Fantastic advice. Thanks all. I am still working on the plan and am in the process of getting the property. It will be either 4 acres near Digby or 4 acres in Pictou County. I will finalize next week and keep the news posted. I am going to be sixty in September so the time is now to get moving on the dream!!
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