gravel base for footing

[YukonJack]

I am putting down a 12" base of 1 1/2" gravel to improve drainage and soil bearing capacity for my foundation (8" stem walls). The foundation will be at 48" depth (frost). My question is can I limit the gravel base to the area under the footings or should I cover the entire crawl space (55 cu yds of gravel!).

[Rich]

Under the footings is fine.. you could probably save some of that too .. 12" is a little overkill. What did the soils report or engineer suggest?

[YukonJack]

The engineer called for a 30" x 10" footing based on 1000lb soil bearing but by using gravel I can get up to at least 2500lbs and use an 18" footing.

[Rich]

ic.. I would probably keep it local to the footing.. no need to go in board of that.

[YukonJack]

Thanks Rich