New new home construction tips

A new home has to have a starting point, and that is the foundation. The cliche, “a home is only as good as its foundation” hits the nail on the head, so to speak. A bad start at this stage, can lead to thousands of dollars in future repairs. Water penetration, settlement, cracking of tiles and drywall, tight fitting doors and windows can all be attributed to a bad foundation. The footing is an engineered, structural component that is used to support the foundation or basement walls.

The first critical inspection should take place at the foundation stage of construction. After your basement or footings have been excavated, forms are usually set up to hold the concrete in place. In some cases trench footings are used where a trench the size of the specified footing width is dug out. The concrete is poured up against the walls of the trench. In both cases the first thing that you should look at is that the forms or trench is clean of any loose earth or debris.

With all the weight of the house being transferred down to the footings, any settlement or movement could have disastrous effects. The next area that needs examining is the poured footing itself. A level footing with a uniform thickness of concrete, will give the footing the best results for strength and bearing capacity. The architectural or structural drawings will specify a thickness and width, with the building inspector, or an engineer verifying this. However a second look by you won’t hurt. In winter conditions the footings must be protected from frost, before and after pouring of the concrete. Frost in the ground under the concrete footings will eventually thaw, causing settlement and cracking throughout the foundation walls and up through the rest of the house. Frozen concrete in the footings drastically reduces the strength and bearing capacity of your footings, which in turn could result in thousands of dollars in repairs. At this stage a picture here is worth a thousand words. The next piece of the foundation equation are the walls themselves. Just as before, the top of the concrete footings, must be clear of any debris or ice. The walls must have full bearing on the footings. To reduce any potential problems with future settlement, builders must use the correct materials and building methods. The two different types of foundation walls mostly used throughout North America are the poured concrete wall and the concrete block wall.

The forms used in a poured wall are usually made out of wood or steel. A quick visual inspection to ensure that the forms are in decent shape, should help in the overall finish of your walls. The contractor pouring the foundation walls will usually lubricate the inside of the forms before pouring. This prevents water from being drawn from the concrete as well as keeping the concrete from sticking to the forms when stripping.

New home buying tips, free advice and trouble shooting will be available to Homebuyer Friendly members. Homebuyer Friendly will be there for you during the construction phase of your home and well after, available to answer any questions that you have about the construction of your new home or addition.

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