Building a New Home Foundation

When building a new home, the foundation is one of the most important elements for its success. Foundations are essential for keeping the home safe and stable for its residents. A vast number of materials ranging from stone to wood are utilized to create reinforced concrete.

Three types of foundations exist. These are full-basement, crawlspace and slab-on-grade foundations. The best fit for you will depend on your new home’s location and your spatial needs. Additionally, by building a new home, you’ll have full control over preventative measures to avoid issues like mold down the line. 

Things to Consider When Building a Foundation for a New Home

Full Basements

A full basement requires footings that are buried at a great depth. High walls (often 8-feet tall) and thick poured concrete slabs are also required. This leads to the creation of an underground room that can serve as a storage area.

Nowadays, it’s popular to convert full basements into functional areas. It can be used as a recreational space, fitness room or entertainment unit. Depending on the lot’s position, the basement can receive ample natural light, making it a lively room. Good ventilation will also make it better for residents to stay in. As such, when building your new home, you may want to consider the use you wish to have for this space. 

Now, if you want to make your new home’s basement functional, focusing on insulation by installing foam can be beneficial. Aside from the comfort it brings, mold and mildew issues will be minimized. The practice of adding insulation prevents condensation as it heightens the temperature of the concrete.

In addition, insulation keeps the basement from emitting an odor commonly associated with it. This is because insulation can leave basements dry rendering it cleaner. Thus, dampness is eliminated, which strongly contributes to that familiar basement smell.

Crawlspaces

Another alternative foundation when building a new home is crawlspaces. Crawlspace footings are positioned deep underground. However, sufficient area for headroom is left for when someone needs to access the base of the house. 

Typically, foundation vent openings are found in crawl spaces to help reduce the extra moisture. However, it can be a common source of moisture and can encourage the growth of mold. Thus, the home’s structure breaks down and can even contaminate the other common areas of the room with toxic mold.

It’s now advisable to seal and insulate the crawlspace with a vapor barrier or concrete slab. Although this can run up in expenses, the space conditioning bills tend to decrease and rid your crawlspace of the dreaded mold and mildew. In fact, this can leave you with a dry storage area where you can put your heating unit to conserve more space in your living area. 

By building a new home, you can prevent mold issues with your foundation from the start, saving you expenses from damages in the long run. 

Slab-on-Grade

For places with high water tables, a concrete slab is recommended. A slab-on-grade foundation is a poured concrete slab and is the designated subfloor of the house. Gravel is applied beforehand on the entire area for drainage. To eliminate cracks, a wire mesh is used and, consequently, the pipes and electrical conduit are inserted.

A slab-on-grade may take some time, especially since the mechanical systems have to be properly planned out before the pouring occurs. You should consider this factor in the overall construction time of your new home. 

Soil Considerations

Much of the success of the new structure’s foundation walls and footing depends heavily on the ground where the footing is placed. Unlike commercial establishments where the foundation is customized for the demands of the structure, residential home foundations are dependent on the condition of the soil. As such, when building your new home, be sure to identify the soil to find the ideal placement of your home as well as the correct foundational measures.   

The difference between dense, dry soil and soft, wet clay can be astronomical. The former is likely to be more stable and will show little settling issues after the construction. The latter, on the other hand, is expected to settle. Clay soil is a common cause of cracked tiles and drywall, and it’s also the soil often found in Texas. 

Keeping it Dry

Excess water that accumulates on the outer portion of the foundation wall can cause an issue leading to moisture. It may transform into a dire issue of progressive mildew and mold. This problem can present itself no matter the type of foundation you installed. 

A good way to escape this headache is to conduct a waterproofing coating on the foundation’s exteriors. When building your new home, you may choose to position a perforated pipe along the footing so water can be diverted and drained. 

Landscaping is also key in ensuring the foundations remain dry. One way to do this is to apply firm soil around the structure to protect the foundation from excess moisture. Thankfully, a benefit of building a new home rather than buying one is that you have full control over implementing these preventative measures from the start. 

Signs of Trouble

It may come as a surprise, but cracks are nothing new in recently-created homes, especially small hairline types. However, be wary of those wide cracks at the top areas. This can be a sign of the uneven settling of the foundation. 

If you spot narrow vertical cracks, it’s not necessarily an indicator of foundation issues. What you should be more vigilant about are horizontal cracks. This can be a foreboding sign that structural failure has happened. On the bright side, when poured concrete is applied, the odds of a foundation collapse are very little.

Post-Tension Foundations

A way to protect the value of the new home’s structure is performing post-tensioning. This makes use of steel bands and bars to manage tension and thus stabilize a structure even further. It serves to eliminate settling. 

Having a post-tension foundation is a dependable method of ensuring a new home’s structural integrity. So when it comes time to sell the property, you will fetch a good price for it because you invested in a post-tension foundation. This is a recognizable benefit for people when buying new homes. 

Protect Yourself

In terms of building a new home with an excellent foundation, being attentive to details is a must. As such, you can engage the services of a trusted inspector such as Granite Foundation Repair, Inc. We can properly assess if the foundation work is professionally done and matches the correct industry standards. We can inspect the foundation prior to the start of the new home’s framing to give you peace of mind.

Granite Foundation Repair, Inc. is an expert at providing foundation repairs. We have 17 years of experience, giving us an outstanding depth in foundation knowledge. Whatever type of property you hold, we can conduct a thorough inspection. 

Be assured that we’ll bring you up-to-date on the foundation defects we come across in the course of our extensive inspections of your new home. Should we find any, Granite Foundation Repair, Inc has you covered with our repairs! Contact us today and we’d be glad to discuss our top services that best suit your needs.