Foundation and
Retaining Walls 
Foundation:
Base of Your House
Foundation
is such a part of your house on which you make the constructions.
Foundation is practically the structure, which holds the whole
building together.
Any problem in the foundation and your home is gone! So, you
need to be very careful while deciding about the foundation
of your home. As the foundation holds the complete construction,
it is supposed to be strong enough. That is the reason why mostly
concrete is used for building the foundation.
While building the construction, you have to keep in mind various
other factors such as the cost, soil composition, climate of
the area and the market demand. A well-built foundation also
increases the resale value of the house.
For supporting the
house, there are three main types of foundation – full height
basement, crawlspace and slab on grade.
Full height basement
is a kind of foundation where you have some space between the
bottom of the first floor and the soil. You can make use of
this space for various purposes. Full height basement foundation
offers more headroom space to the individuals. These foundations
are primarily used in colder climatic conditions. Here, the
foundation is kept below the frost level, so that it doesn’t
get cracked.
Slab on grade is
one of the simplest of all foundations. In such foundation,
the structural concrete slab is directly put on the dirt and
there is no space between them. In regions where the water table
is high, these slabs are used for foundation.
Crawlspace
foundation provides
a space between the soil and the bottom of the first floor of
the house. The space it offers is accessible. You can make use
of the space for storage purpose. These foundations are used
in regions where the soils contain much clay.
Retaining
Walls: Holding Back Soil
Retaining wall is
a kind of structure that holds the soil or the rock of any building
or any area. To hold back the massive pressure of soil and rock,
the retaining walls have to be really strong. In order to maintain
the strength of the walls, the walls are supposed to have a
well-built drainage system. The base of the all retaining walls
should be below the frost line in cold regions to prevent the
walls from getting cracked.
Stonewalls
are mostly used as the retaining wall. There are mainly two
types of structures that are used for stonewall constructions
– the dry wall, acting as the fillers between two stones and
the mortar type where cement is used as the bonding agent. The
top of the walls, no matter how strong it is, needs protection.
Generally, the top of the stone walls are covered with flat
broad stone. Depending on the building techniques, materials
and usage, there are different types of retaining
walls. Some of them are gravity, sheet piling,
cantilevered, soil nailing, gabion meshes and mechanical stabilization
etc

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