Foundation wall question

[pinsky190]

I recently got my block foundation installed for my 24x24 garage that is going up. The mason poured a 6 inch footer and then did 5 courses of block. The frost line here in PA is 36." My question is, if the outside of the walls need to be backfilled to have the footer below 36"? Or is it not a concern since the inside of the garage is high enough.

As you can tell from the picture about 2' of wall is exposed towards the back end.

Each block is 8" and between the mud and the 5 courses the block height is about 41".

 

[bimmer1980]

as it stands, the wall is not "3' below grade". not going to work so well on preventing frost heaves....

So yes, I would recommend backfilling so you have 3' of coverage. Otherwise, the footing should have been stepped down to ensure that it is 3' below grade.

Another possible option would be to lay down some insulation and then back fill a foot on top of that. The insulation would give a little frost protection. Your inspector may not like it tho.

last but not least, do check with the inspector.... they might pass it as is...... (but I woudl still be concerned about forst heaving.....

 

[kbs2244]

Put in the back fill.
The code will require it
and it will give a good slope away from the building for rain runoff.

 

[pinsky190]

That's what I thought as well. I'll have to backfill a little more then. Thanks

 

[Kevin54]

Are you talking a 6" thick footer? If so, then I don't think your footer is even up to code. I know when I did my footers, I had to be a minimum of 8" thick and 12" wide @ 36" below ground level, measured to the TOP of the footer

 

[pinsky190]

Since my structure is below 1000 sq ft all I need is a zoning permit, which they only inspect the final building. There is no inspection when the footer is laid down.

 

[tcianci]

Although I have never heard of a footer spec being measured to the top of the footer, you should have the BOTTOM of your footer the specified 36" below the finished grade. Since your block wall is 8 " thick, I am assuming that your footer is 6" thick, that's a little light. Does it have re-bar? The job of the footer is to distribute the weight of the structure over a sufficient area to prevent the structure from sinking into the soil. I have poured foundations directly on the undisturbed soil with 10 inch walls and no footers, and no problems either. It depends on the load bearing characteristics of the soil. If you have th right soil conditions, your 6 inch thick footer may work just fine but be sure the bottom of it is below the frost line.

 

[pinsky190]

I'm sorry the footer is 8" and the ground is hard clay which was tamped down before the footer was poored. I'm just going to have to build up the soil by the wall up to the last block to ensure the footer is under 36." An issue why the excavator didn't build up the soil that much was because that is where the swail is pitched away from my garage. If I add too much fill on that side of the garage, all the rain water will just sit in front of my garage. So a cheap solution is to just get some railroad ties and fill in that area with fill.