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Concrete Foundations
Concrete Foundations - Home Improvement
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I have a sub that stakes, clears, excavates, digs, and pours footings and walls. For your first house, I recommend that you find one who does the same. The concrete foundation cost will be comparable. The footing is probably the most important part of the house. If it settles or moves, so will your house. If it is not done according to the dimensions of your plans, you will have to change the plans to accommodate the footing or do the footing over.
I recommend the former if the situation arises, unless the deviation is too severe.
The finished foundation should be waterproofed from the footing to the finish grade line.
I recommend hiring a professional waterproofing company for this. Companies are listed in the Yellow Pages under Waterproofing. Don’t let one of your regular laborers do it in his spare time, if he offers to. A professional company will stand behind its work.
Also, depending on your locale, you may need to have the soil treated for insects and pests, particularly termites. Hire a professional. This job is done after the foundation is in, but before any concrete is poured for either the basement or the garage. The cost is small.
As a rule, footings and foundations are better today than they were 100 years ago.
Well-built houses of today will probably last years longer than those built long ago. Technology has improved materials such as concrete, and our knowledge of how to use them has increased. I say this to help ease your mind about this important step.
The foundation wall for any type house needs to be high enough so that water will be diverted away from the house by the final grade of the soil around the house.
It must also be high enough so that the wood finish and framing of the house will be at least
8 inches above the finish grade and thus protected from soil moisture.
Your foundation contractor needs to be one of your better subs. Next to your carpenter, he is the most important. Your carpenter probably can recommend a good one, as he usually starts his work soon after, if not directly after, the foundation contractor is finished. He knows the good ones. I’m sure he’s had to follow bad ones and probably remembers having to shim walls or compensate in some other way for an out-of-square foundation. Houses can and should have square corners.
Here's a concrete calculator from Concrete Network for those who plan on ordering the concrete:

