How to Install a Strip Foundation
When building small houses (one to three stories), a strip foundation is most often used. In addition to the number of stories, the weight of the building material used for the house must also be considered. The overall structure should not be too heavy; for heavier houses, a different type of foundation is better. To install a strip foundation yourself, you need to decide on the material it will be made of, as strip foundations can be monolithic, a mixed monolithic-block, or a mixed monolithic-brick.
Article Contents:
as its name suggests, a strip foundation resembles a ribbon-shaped structure that serves as the base for laying the walls.
To install a strip foundation yourself, you need to:
- Prepare the site.
- Dig a trench.
- Prepare the reinforcement.
- Install the formwork.
- Pour the concrete.
Stage One: Site Preparation.
Site preparation involves clearing the area where construction will take place, leveling the surface (removing hills and holes), taking preliminary measurements, and installing markers (pegs) at the boundaries and corners of the future foundation.
Stage Two: Trenching.
Before digging the trenches, it’s necessary to make more precise calculations and mark out the area. Stretch cords between the stakes installed at the corners of the foundation. The depth of the foundation depends on the soil type and the weight of the building. The most common strip foundation is installed at a depth of 60 to 80 cm. The width of the strip foundation should be 5 centimeters wider than the width of the wall. If you plan to use brick cladding and insulation, the width will be greater. The bottom of the trench is filled with gravel and sand to create a cushion. The cushion is 10 cm thick and must be thoroughly compacted.
Stage Three: Reinforcement.
Reinforcement is the main component of the strength of the foundation, as it acts as a stiffener. The reinforcement of the foundation must be taken quite seriously, since the reliability of the entire structure directly depends on it. The standard reinforcement for reinforcing a strip foundation is reinforcement with a cross-section of 12 mm. The reinforcement is laid to a depth of 5-10 cm from the bottom of the trench on reinforcing bars driven into the bottom. The reinforcing belt is a square frame connected by crossbars at a distance of forty centimeters.
Stage Four: Formwork.
Edged boards 25 mm thick are usually used as formwork. Or sheet plywood with a thickness of 10 mm. The shields are knocked together based on the required size so that their height above the ground is at least forty centimeters. The resulting formwork box is securely strengthened with stops and leveled.
Stage Five: Pouring Concrete.
Concrete for pouring the foundation you can prepare it yourself in a household concrete mixer or order a ready-made solution in a mixer. In the second case, the foundation is poured once, which has a number of advantages. The solution is made from cement, crushed stone and sand or a gravel-sand mixture at the rate of one to four in relation to sand. That is, if eight buckets of a gravel-sand mixture contain four buckets of sand and four buckets of pure gravel, then for eight buckets of such a mixture one bucket of cement is added. The solution is poured into the formwork and compacted.
As the concrete dries, water it generously to avoid cracks.
Wall laying can begin after two weeks.
