Concrete Slab On Grade Foundation

Concrete Slab On Grade Foundation

There are only a few types of home foundations. Damage can affect all of them in different ways and neither is cheap to fix. A concrete slab on grade foundation is just one of the several foundation forms that homeowners should be made aware of.

A concrete slab on grade foundation is just what is sounds like, a solid block of concrete poured at the same type when your home was built. They are usually several inches thick as they have to be to support your home.   They are used in areas where the ground does not tend to freeze often. Even if it does tend to freeze in your area, insulation can be added around the slab to prevent it from freezing and cracking.

Why is freezing such a big problem? As objects freeze, they get smaller and as they heat up they expand. If your foundation expanded and contracted over time, it is likely it will crack and you will be stuck with a large foundation repair bill.

Concrete slab on grade foundations have numerous benefits. The advantages of the concrete slab are that they're cheap and durable, and thought to be less susceptible to termite infestation because there is no wood for them to eat. Channels leading from the ground to the home carry all the way to the ground on the outer walls.

The drawbacks are the scant amount of access from power lines, the potential for large losses where ground temperature falls substantially, and a very low elevation that exposes the house to floods. Remodeling or extending such a property might be difficult. Over the long term, ground settling may be a problem, as a foundation can't be able to compensate. Slab-on-grade foundations are utilized in areas with clay soil, particularly in California and Texas. Elevated structural slabs perform much better on clays, generally accepted by the engineering community that slab-on-grade foundations greatest cost-to-performance ratio for tract homes.

They're usually only found on custom houses or homes with basements. The fixing of the house with concrete slab foundation problems usually ranges from $800 to $2500 and up depending on the extent of the damage. The EPA recommends you have a qualified mitigation contractor fix these issues.