Treated wood foundations

[exp579]

Anyone have experiences with lenders/underwriters not accepting treated wood foundations as a standard guideline?

 

[Papoua Jose]

Anyone have experiences with lenders/underwriters not accepting treated wood foundations as a standard guideline?

Treated wood posts sunk straight into the soil?

 

[exp579]

Treated wood posts sunk straight into the soil?

No.....concrete slab but the basement walls are framed walls with pressure treated wood & covered with barrier. Sounds like it is okay for FHA/Fannie but just wondering if some lenders automatically reject it.

 

[Mark K]

Treated wood posts sunk straight into the soil?

No. Generally they are framed walls sitting on a poured concrete foundation below the frost line. Instead of concrete block sitting on the poured foundation they use a framed wall with 2x6 or 2x8's and 3/4" treated plywood on the outside walls. And yes, they meet code.

A few builders have used them over the years in this area but they are generally met less than enthusiastically by the market. Most of them are confined to one or two particular subdivisions and compared to houses on poured conc. slabs, they generally sell for less, basically shunned by most buyers. These houses are also in the areas with high foreclosure rates and are turning into rental ghettos.

 

[stefan olafson]

They are common in NW Minnesota and in North Dakota, well accepted by mortgage companies.

Originally some builders didn't build them right, but now they are fairly universally accepted and warmer than concrete or concrete block basements.

 

[Mr Rex]

They were the rage for a brief period, but after time testing kinda petered out, although I think they are still allowed under most codes. The problem is that unlike masonry, the wood tends to bend and stretch if and when the "waterproofing" failed.

 

[normando]

When I see brick foundations, most lenders would reject them. The homes have been here for over 100 years and still standing. I'm not sure if a wood foundation can still be good after over 100 years of the weathered elements. Then again the loan is for no more than 30 years.

 

[Mr Rex]

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

 

[JSmith43]

In the summer of 1987 I appraised per plans & specs a pretty high end McMansion on 10 acres that had a wood foundation. The owner got really pizzed when my appraisal determined that the improvements were sited in a flood zone A, within that 10 acres.

Admittedly, I used my odometer for the approximate measurement from the road to the building site. 1/20 mile or more into the zone.

Owner, an egotistical surgeon, "made" his surveyor "move" the referenced location of the site on his site plan about 200+' closer to the road, just beyond the flood zone overlay. Thats how it appeared to me, a non RLS.

The place was partially framed up already, so I was contemplating my choices, since it looked like a conspiracy to me. A funny thing happened, a week later. We had a 500 year rain event, apps. 7" from a storm that stalled out & dumped water like a monsoon. The partially built home looked like it was sitting in a lake.

I never did get a final inspection request:icon_mrgreen:

 

[normando]

It seems like common sense you don't want wood touching water whenever you can. Similarly, when one buys a steep sloping terrain, expect to have land movements except if it's on bedrock. It's a natural occuring event.