Treated wood foundations

[JSmith43]

That's part of the problem.The "waterproofing" never lasts 30 years.

What's the best way to repair a wood foundation? Remove a part at a time, frame it with braced extruded polystyrene insulation & pump in concrete? Probably jack up the whole home, set up polystyrene forms, pump concrete?

 

[Mr Rex]

The simplest problem with the treated wood foundations is that they are not strong enough to be self supporting against the weight of the soil against them. Think about a wood retaining wall versus a concrete or masonry reinforced wall. The wood foundations are dependent on the floor system to resist the weight of the soil, where concrete or reinforced masonry can be strong enough without the floor system. Then when the wood gets wet when the "waterproofing" fails and begins to bend etc, its a POS.

 

[Mr Rex]

What's the best way to repair a wood foundation? Remove a part at a time, frame it with braced extruded polystyrene insulation & pump in concrete? Probably jack up the whole home, set up polystyrene forms, pump concrete?

You could replace it a bit at the time and/or use the wood foundation as forms for pouring concrete with some finagling and creative engineering.

 

[Sid Holderly]

In this area they replace sections of foundation at a time. They were built in several dense subdivisions alongside slab based homes. They generally sell for less. Most are econo-box 2 stories. The lowest quality ones used the whole crawl space as the furnace return (no return duct work). Our climate enhances the deterioration of the wood products used.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Properly treated posts can last 50 years in the ground. P Poor ones, like those with CCA (chlorinated arsenic compounds) will rot in 15 - 20 in a wet climate. Builders in some areas sink concrete posts as piers and then sit the post on top of the pier. Morton Buildings nail layers of treated boards together as foundation. I am not too keen on that.

 

[Restrain]

Down here, we find 100 year old homes built on bois d' arc posts. Have to write paragraphs explaining that they dont rot and are impervious to termites.

 

[exp579]

My situation is a wood foundation gone wrong....it's a 5000sf log home on full finished basement with water leaking in and plastic barrier deteriorating. So odds are the foundation has failed....but assuming the foundation was good? In my market, there are no sales to prove a market reaction but all the realtors I talk to said typically buyers stay away from wood foundations.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Have to write paragraphs explaining that they dont rot and are impervious to termites.

Don't mention bois d'arc to me.... My father made me nail up a fence with old posts. The stuff gets hard as steel. You bent every staple in a post and then the post would spit it out in a few weeks. So it was an endless chore. Finally, he just made me take the fence out. Each and every post was embedded like a fishhook. In days before front end loaders I wiggled most out of the ground by hand, then pulled the rest with the rear lift. Then I had to fill the holes, roll up the wire, and save the staples so cows would not eat them accidentally, and stack the posts.. They made excellent bonfires.

it's a 5000sf log home on full finished basement with water leaking in

Is the basement made from log to???
I've seen log homes with basements but they are all concrete except maybe the walk out side, which is generally framed. And locally a high percentage do leak and basements are damp or smell bad. Inadequate moisture barrier and lack of french drains, etc. are the problem.

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

Last one I appraised was about 20 years ago. Wood foundations are acceptable for most loans.

 

[Mile High Trout]

Ran across this the other day, but I could not find the thread link, sorry.

Search google images: structural foundation.