Masonry Foundations

3/25/2011

What is a Masonry foundation

Basically a Masonry Foundation is a foundation constructed of brick, block, or mortar and other material.

Key words that you may hear in a Masonry foundations

•Cinder block•Brick•Block•Stone•Field Stone

Measuring of height with this style is typically termed in the number of bricks of courses to get the desired height.

How are masonry foundations built?

•Still follow all rules discussed on Friday for sill, and footer.

•Typically a concrete footer is common

•Footer can be made of block

Laying block

•Major difference in a masonry foundation compared to concrete or wood.

•$ COST $

•15-20 years ago cinder block was the common and cheaper way to build

•With advances in concrete this is now a thing of the past for the most part

•Main reason why a thing of the past is $$$ and that there is more money spent hiring a skilled mason to build the foundation.

•Also may take longer to build a block foundation over a concrete one.

What can happen to block basements if not properly cared for?

Water is a foundations worse problem

Can lead to bowing and overtime if not corrected wall failure.

There are entire businesses built around “fixing” your basement problems.

Here are a few of them.

Wall repair

Basement wall water issues

Insta-Dry

B-Dry System

How Foundation is built according to B Dry

Say no to dry wall

Dry Lock Paint

Waterproofing a basement

Installing a Sump Pump

Fixing a leaky wall

Radon Mitigation

With all these unique ways of saving your basement what can you do in the first place?

This.

Dream foundationDraw out a picture of a potential foundation for your dream home.

Remember to include the following. •Size•Foundation wall material•Rooms?•Subsoil drainage•Sump location•Other utilities that would be located in foundation area•What kind of foundation? crawl space, full basement?•Other ideas that make it your dream foundation.

“A house is only as good as its foundations and a foundation is only as good as the soil it rests on.” Mr. M