Construction of Foundation

Engr. Lito I. Mauro

Most commonly used foundations for buildings
1. Strip foundation under walls (wall footings)
2. Spread or pad footing foundation under columns
3. Raft foundation
4. Pile footing
5. Pier foundation (bridges)
After excavation and leveling the foundation, sandfill
at 15 – 30cm if the foundation soil is not sandy.
Where it is necessary to fill the foundation to a higher
level from the excavation, the filling is done by a
hard core consisting of sand and gravel, known as
hard core.
Evolution of strip foundation
With the advent of reinforced concrete cement in
modern construction, reinforced concrete footings
are mostly used in strip and pad footings.
Such foundations do not require much thickening of
the brickwork at the base, but can be carried
straight from the RCC strip.
 
Determination of width of foundation
The width of a strip footing will depend on the load to
be carried by the wall and the safe bearing capacity of
the soil.
Load on unit length of wall
Safe bearing capacity

but should not be less than 1m the minimum width

required for excavation
Placing levelling course of concrete in foundation
2 levelling courses provided in the foundation
1. Sand levelling course
2. Concrete levelling course
Sand levelling course should not be less than 100mm to
level up the foundation.
Concrete levelling course should be of lean cement
concrete 1 : 3 : 6 or 1 : 4 : 8 of large size aggregates
50mm.
Setting out for brickwork of a load-bearing
wall
After the base concrete foundation has set,
transfer the lines from the profile board to
the bottom of the trench on the concrete
surface board.
Foundation of partition walls
Foundations of external and internal load-
bearing walls should always be placed at
sufficient depths so a not to be affected
by climatic changes.
4 types of partition walls
Type 1 walls – These are half-brick walls (11m) taken to
ceiling heights only.
The foundation should consist one-brick walls (23cm).
They are constructed below the floor level and taken to
30cm below the original ground level.
A nominal concrete foundation of width 30cm and depth
15cm is provided beneath it.
A sandfilling of 15cm is also provided under the concrete.
Type 2 walls – These are half-brick walls taken
only up to 1.73m and are used for storage
shelves.
The wall can be made to rest directly on a
concrete foundation 30cm wide and 20cm
thick provided just below the base concrete for
the floor.
Type 3 walls – Partition walls in framed
structures can be built on connecting beams
made just below the floor concrete level and
connected to other beams such as grade
beams supported on columns.
Type 4 walls – Minor partition walls of low height
can be directly built on top of the floor if a good
depth of sandfilling over the original ground has
been provided below the floor beneath the wall.
A lightly reinforced shallow beam resting on sandfill
at the level of the floor an be provided to support
the wall.
Foundations of framed buildings
Framed buildings are built with columns and
beams forming the framework.
The columns are built on reinforced concrete
footings.
Foundations for staircases
Foundations for staircases need not be very deep
unless the soil is clayey.
In good soil conditions, the foundations are laid about
40cm below the original ground level.
If the sight is to be filled up for a large height, special
care should be taken so that the soil below the
foundation of staircases is well compacted while
filling is made
Plinth beams
The projecting part of the wall immediately above the
ground up to the ground floor is known as plinth.
It gives an appearance of additional stability to the
building and also the clearance from the ground level.
An RCC beam usually provided in the main walls above
the ground level and just below the ground floor level
is called a plinth beam.
Eccentrically-loaded foundations
In construction of compound walls, their foundations
have to be built in one’s own property .
Eccentric footings can be adopted for these walls only
if the soil is sandy.
As the pressure on the foundation at the boundary side
is higher, there will be greater settlement at the
boundary.