Drainage & Foundation

Combined
The rubble trench is a favourite type of
foundation among many natural builders due
to the fact that it substantially reduces cost,
time, labor and the need for cement and rebar.
It allows you to even eliminate the need for
cement and rebar completely if needed, which
we will illustrate here. It also combines two
key features that any successful foundation
needs to achieve drainage and an even load
distribution.

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The Frozen Landscape

In temperate climates where winter frost
should be expected a foundation must be
designed to keep water from accumulating
underneath the foundation walls in order to
avoid frost heaving. Frost heaving is when
water in the ground expands as it freezes and
subsequently pushes the ground upward. And
in spring the water thaws and the ground sinks
back down again. This constant pushing up
and down will force the house to twist and
skew which might not only create problems
with opening and closing of doors and
windows but even structurally compromise the
house.
The RTF deals with these challenges by
consisting mainly of a drainage trench, much
like a French drain, filled with crushed stone
that lets any water drain down and away from
the foundation. The basic principle of this has
been used in many shapes and forms for
thousands of years but it was American
architect Frank Lloyd Wright who brought this
technique (which he called dry wall footing)
into the 20th century.
5K+

1. The Trench
The trench should run underneath all the external load bearing points,
continuously around the full perimeter of the building. Any internal load
bearing points (underneath the house) can simply rest on undisturbed earth
(stable soil cleared of top soil) so the amount of digging needed is minimal
compared to your standard concrete slab.
The minimum depth of the trench is determined by the local frost-free
depth. This is the depth where the temperature never descends to zero C
so any water ending up in the trench will therefore not freeze. The bottom
of the trench then needs to slope with an even descent of at least 3 cm for
every 1 meter of trench, diverting the water towards one point. From then
on the water can be diverted away from the foundation through an outlet to
either daylight or to a dry well.

2. Filter Fabric Geotextile

The trench must then be lined with a geotextile to prevent any of the
surrounding soil from clogging up the trench and outlet. This geotextile is
really the only non-natural material that you need for this foundation to
work properly. The trench would probably work quite well without it for at
least a while but any silting would gradually reduce the trench's ability to
drain away water, eventually rendering the rubble trench completely
useless, with frost heaving just waiting to happen.

3. Crushed Stone
After the trench is lined with Geotextile it is gradually filled with angular
and washed stones (see picture bottom right) that have an average size of
between 2,5-5cm, compacted at every 30cm layer using either a hand
powered tamper or a pneumatic tamper. The crushed stone needs to be

4. Stonework
At this point you could of course construct a formwork, setup with rebar inside it and pour a concrete grade beam, in which case the rubble trench
would greatly reduce the need for cement. However, the RTF can be constructed without a single drop of cement, using the oldest building
material known to man; stone. It needs to be a continuous wall made of either really large blocks of stone, large enough for one row to
sufficiently lift the house above ground or smaller, more easily managed stones arranged in a beautiful dry stacked stone wall (see below left).
Both choices would create a look that definitely matches the natural materials of your house a lot better than cement ever could, and lets the
building truly marry the landscape. The foundation should extend at least 40cm above grade to keep the house away from any possible splashing
and normal masses of snow.

5. First Line of Defence

The rubble trench should now be able to deal with most of the percipitation that one can expect but as an extra precaution you should add a small
slope all around your entire foundation. This works as a first line of defence by keeping much of the precipitation from ending up in the trench in
the first place. Simply let the Geotextile continue a bit up along the side of the foundation stones and fill up with earth against the stones with the
Geotextile in between. This way you keep any of the added earth from ending up in the trench, avoiding any potential clogging. Then shape and
compact the earth into a slope that leads water at least 1 meter away from the foundation. When done correctly this should leave you with a very
dry and strong footing that will do its job for a very long time.