Footer or no footer

[gjyoung]

I am having a contrator build a florida room for me. The slab will be partially poured over an existing slab and extended another 14 feet.

The question I am agonizing over is the contractor has had an engineer draw up plans that do not include pouring a footer. Ther reason I have received so far si because they will be pouring over an existing slab and that the total thickness of the old and new slab will be 12 inches, I will not need to have a footer put in place.

Does this make sense? I can send a pic of what I am talking about if needed, thanks for any replies.

Gil

[Rich]

The use of stemwalls and footers have more to do with the location of the home. Texas versus Montana and freeze/thaw cycles. The engineering on a typical single story home with no safety factor shows that no footer is needed. I personally still put the footer in place for peace of mind, but I'm a little anal like that.. :D

And welcome to the forum.

[gjyoung]

Ahh, thank you for the reply. I am in Orlando, Florida. I did get a chance to look at the engineering drawings, and it seems they are claimng there is already an existing footer 1 foot and 4 inches deep and wide, under the existing slab, and that had been signed off by the county. Problem is, there is no existing footer of any size, it is just an existing 4 inch slab. That doesnt seem right, what do you think?

The concrete guys came by today and installed some vertical rebar at the edges of the slab every 6 feet, I am guessing for pour holes after the block is layed.
And thans for the forum, I do appreciate it.

[Rich]

I would take a picture and bring to engineer or builder and request that they put a footing in. The one area that concerns me is the very edge of the slab where you will be building walls on top of with no thickened edge or footing. Let's say you have a real gully washer and the soil around the slab gets washed away? What if you don't notice right away? And it ends up undercutting several feet and the slab breaks off? :shock:
I would say at a minimum you should have a thickened edge. If the engineer concludes that the 12" (total composite) structure is acceptable, have him send a letter to you on their letterhead stating that it will be acceptable as drawn (even better if he/she stamps it). Then if anything goes wrong down the road you will have some recourse.

[Anonymous]

Well, the county inspector came out and failed the plans :shock:! He agreed there was no imaginary footer in place. I then called the construction company and they said they generally do it that way because my county is the only county in the area that requires footers for this type of job. So they finally told me that they will be cutting back the existing slab and putting in a footer. :wink:

Thanks for your advice, I really do appreciate it. If the contractor wasnt going to put in a footer and still try to monkey with things, I was going to tell him that I was having another engineer review the plans since the existing engineer couldnt tell the difference between an 11 inch final pour and a 16 inch final pour, but I dont have to worry aobut that now, right? :roll:

[Rich]

I seriously doubt that you have the only county that does it correctly.. hah. I'm glad you got it figured out.

[LaMarcus]

Haha one of the funnier storied Ive read on here. I know its old and Im new but glas you got it hammered out.


___________
LaMarcus

[charrison]

I am having a contrator build a florida room for me. The slab will be partially poured over an existing slab and extended another 14 feet.

The question I am agonizing over is the contractor has had an engineer draw up plans that do not include pouring a footer. Ther reason I have received so far si because they will be pouring over an existing slab and that the total thickness of the old and new slab will be 12 inches, I will not need to have a footer put in place.

Does this make sense? I can send a pic of what I am talking about if needed, thanks for any replies.

Gil

Definately have a footer put in.