Do-it-yourself monolithic slab foundation

When choosing a foundation, they are guided, firstly, by reliability, and secondly, by cost. It would be nice if both qualities were combined, but this is not always possible. One of the most reliable foundations for building a house is a monolithic slab foundation. In some cases, on normal soils for light houses, it is relatively inexpensive, in difficult cases it can be expensive.

Scope and types

A monolithic slab under the house refers to floating non-buried foundations, it can also be shallow. It got its name due to the fact that the reinforced concrete base is poured under the entire area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe house, forming a large slab.

A prerequisite is the presence of a sand and gravel cushion, which redistributes the load from the house to the ground, and serves as a damper during frost heaving. Often such a foundation is the only possible solution. For example, on unstable, loose soils or on clays with a large freezing depth.

The monolithic slab foundation design is simple and reliable, but its manufacture requires a large amount of reinforcement and large volumes of high-grade concrete (not lower than B30), because the entire area occupied by the building is reinforced and concreted, and even with a margin - for greater stability. Therefore, such a foundation is considered expensive. In principle, this is true, but it must be considered. In some cases, its cost is lower than that of a deep-laid strip due to less earthwork and less concrete.

The depth of laying a monolithic slab is determined depending on the mass of the house and the type of soil. With a small depth on heaving soils in winter, the house, together with the base, can rise and fall. With the correct calculation of the reinforcement and the thickness of the slab, this does not affect the integrity of the building. The plate compensates for all changes due to the elastic force. In the spring, after the soil has melted, the house "sits down" in place.

There are four types of slab foundation: