Building a New House on the WORST DIRT in the Country!
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- Опубликовано: 24 авг 2024
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Hey Gang! We're so excited to officially begin PHASE 1 of the StudPack House build. It all starts with the soil, and here in our part of Texas, it's pretty bad. The soil will make or break your foundation, and the foundation will make or break your house, so we're really trying to get every single detail right. Definitely not beginner friendly, but that's why we're asking so many questions, and trying to share as much as possible with all of you. Thanks so much for watching, and we'll see ya in the next one!
Contact: Studpack225@gmail.com
I’m a civil engineer and I’ve been watching your guys videos for quiet some time now. I’m so happy to see you doing your research and talking to the professionals about foundation work. Most people don’t do those steps and it’s probably the most important step to not skip over! Great job! Hats off!!
We did a house onside of a mountain and the dirt guy decided to use the native rock he dugout. Six months later while we were still working on the house doing the siding someone noticed the foundation was cracked and could see under to crawl space. Well that short cut cuased me to have to do a engineered slab.
It’s debatable to call some of those phone experts actual professionals
I am a civil engineer as well, and I agree completely with what you said. These guys are doing it the right way.
Yeah...ditto...I'm a Geotechnical Engineer and deal with this all the time. I always try to remind my engineers to be able to explain to the Average Joe what the results/recommendations of our investigation are. Sometimes we can speak gibberish to folks that never deal with this!
Civil engineer here. Great job.
When you proof roll you want to make sure the ground does move under heavy equipment load. For roads we often will run a loaded dump truck over the ground. It’s probably over kill here. I presume you’ll rent a roller and as long the ground remains stable under the drum you are good to go.
Something to keep in mind when removing. Borings are just snapshots of where the soil was drilled. It might 18-inches in one spot and 30-inches in the other so you need to use your eyes and hands to feel when you have got to more solid layers.
Lastly consider putting a foot or at least 6 inches of crushed gravel under your slab. Definitely suggest avoiding putting concrete directly onto fill. Put the gravel under the foundation walls and slab (over the select fill) then the vapor barrier, then the concrete. Roll it in 4 inch maximum lifts (layers). You could use crushed gravel as all your fill but that would likely be more expensive.
When you remove the bad soil, spread it on the lot to help create drainage and also will help with sloping water away from the garage and house if you build it higher. Find where the water enters and leaves the property and that can help guide where to put your fill.
Super pumped to see how this turns out.
This is one of your best videos ever - because you DIDN'T skip the details. It isn't as exciting as a teardown or a before/after video, but it contains some pretty important pointers that I've never seen mentioned before. Bravo.
That's one of the most important things to us in this series, we want to touch on things that most people don't. We have so many questions, and we're willing to bet, so do other people! 💪
Amen!
@@StudPack I've had these questions for years, I figured it would be too expensive to find out the answers
Modern day This Old House! All these cookie cutter DIY shows on HGTV are nothing compared to you guys! The detail you go into is fantastic! Watching you learn as you go really solidifies the process in my mind. Better than any scripted show on regular TV.
"We don't know what we're doing" is the best thing you guys have said in a long time. I wish more people would have the undercarriage to say that. I've DIY'ed my way through countless very large projects by knowing my limits and asking for guidance when I knew I was in over my head. I never asked them to do it for me but to just show me where I might be going wrong so I can get the job done right. Yea it takes longer and might cost a bit more but there is no better feeling like completing a project that you weren't even sure you could do when you started! Hats off to you both and I'm pulling for you all the way!
Great video Stud Pack! Tucson based architect here. You have likely uncovered most, if not all, of this info in your research and phone calls, but I offer it for your subscribers that might not be in the construction industry.
What your structural engineer has designed is a two-way slab and beam mat foundation. In some places it is called a raft foundation as, in simple terms, it allows the structure to float with the swelling and shrinking of your expansive soils and distribute those forces evenly across the entire foundation. I'm guessing that it is a fairly common solution for engineers in your area, and it may well have a local shorthand name. The beam details (9:34) imply that the concrete will be placed as a monolithic pour.
Per the excerpts from the soil report and the beam details, your FFE (finished floor elevation) will be a minimum of 42" above your excavation (12" below the beams plus 30" foundation depth). This would put your FFE at 18" above existing grade if the top of the stable native soil is uniformly 24" deep. That could be a blessing in disguise for achieving proper finish grading and drainage.
The top of your compacted fill will be 8" below the FFE to accommodate the 4" slab thickness plus the 4" aggregate base course or ABC (noted as selected fill on the details). The fill will be put down and compacted in lifts, the maximum thickness of which, in my area at least, is usually specified in the soils report. Next comes the ABC. The finished pad is normally somewhat larger than the building footprint, the extent of which may be by local convention, or specified in your documents.
After all that, you get to go in and dig a bunch of it out again to create the earthen voids for the beams. Concrete formwork will be required for the portion of the perimeter beams that will be exposed above grade.
For anyone who thinks engineers don't know shit about building, you have no clue just how detailed engineers need to be. Just because you have the day to day hammering experience doesn't mean you understand the local geology, soil characteristics, packing densities, and any other scientific knowledge required to truly properly build something. Some of you actually look down on "pencil pushers" but wouldn't make it even past lower division solid mechanics.
Ever ask yourself why certain nails are used at certain places? Why the diameter and material requirement? Why nails and not screws? Why screws and not nails? Why nuts and bolts and not screws? Why compression and not tension? Well. Engineers do.
Consider digging a rainwater catchment in the back yard to perk and replenish subsoil moisture. This will help drought proof your landscaping and reduce burden on the storm sewer. Capturing rooftop water in an above ground tank is another great strategy. Come next drought you’ll have the only clean truck and green lawn in the neighborhood.
Thank you for this I was looking for anyone else to say it before I did!
Yes, as a civil engineer with a specialty in stormwater management, my mind was clicking on small rain gardens, and from growing up in south Texas, rain barrels are always great to have. We always had them to keep the plants watered during the dry months.
A few tips from a new PNW Luxury Home Builder:
Cross reference your architectual & engineering plans. They are always two different people, and they miss notes/measurements from each other all the time.
If you want to be super safe on the foundation, dig a couple feet deeper and put in some compacted quary spall.
Make story Pole with ALL of your elevations. Raw Grade, Final Grade, Finished floor(main floor with subfloor) that way it's easy to talk to the foundation guys about where you want wall heights.
WATER IS YOUR ENEMY. Waterproof/Grade everything on the home. Ask me how I know.
When you pour the Pier pads under the home, you can pour them in a row instead of individual pads for better earthquake protection.
Just a few, and you will learn A LOT. I joined an existing builder, and about to finish up my first house here in April. Good Luck!
Awesome, thanks BigMike 👊
@@StudPack anytime. If you guys need help feel free to reach out on twitter.
Extra stability is good, but Houston isn't a place to worry about earthquakes. Hurricanes, sure!
@@RossReedstrom Texas gets lots of mini quakes from ‘fracking’ 🙈
@@rogerm9232 in west or central Texas, yes. Down here in southeast Texas, it's all gumbo clay: you'd never feel a micro quake, it'd damp out too fast. Having said that, the same building techniques designed to handle earthquakes leads to a more stable structure, that resists the slower movements of swelling and shrinking clay, too. Not to mention hurricanes! (There are extra techniques just for that, too: hurricane clips to tie down the roof, etc.)
Civil engineer here. Great job.
When you proof roll you want to make sure the ground does not move under heavy equipment load. For roads we often will run a loaded dump truck over the ground. It’s probably over kill here. I presume you’ll rent a roller and as long the ground remains stable under the drum you are good to go.
Something to keep in mind when removing. Borings are just snapshots of where the soil was drilled. It might 18-inches in one spot and 30-inches in the other so you need to use your eyes and hands to feel when you have got to more solid layers.
Lastly consider putting a foot or at least 6 inches of crushed gravel under your slab. Definitely suggest avoiding putting concrete directly onto fill. Put the gravel under the foundation walls and slab (over the select fill) then the vapor barrier, then the concrete. Roll it in 4 inch maximum lifts (layers). You could use crushed gravel as all your fill but that would likely be more expensive.
When you remove the bad soil, spread it on the lot to help create drainage and also will help with sloping water away from the garage and house if you build it higher. Find where the water enters and leaves the property and that can help guide where to put your fill.
Super pumped to see how this turns out.
Just a heads up-The proofroll sub grade step isn’t compacting the soil but rather rolling a loaded dump truck across the area to find any soft areas or areas that “pump”
Noted, thanks Brian!
Yep. Used in road construction to check the road base is solid and consistent before asphalting. Found a mini sinkhole that way.
I've found that a loaded tri-axle is the best way to compact a small area.
Came here to say this. Run the loaded tandem axle dump truck over it and watch for any major deflection. Especially pumping as noted above.
Serious question. How do you run a loaded dump truck inside a two to three foot deep foundation hole for a building that is 60x60? Is there another method with weight that someone would use for "enclosed" confined spaces? Thanks.
A point to bring up is that you are highlighting how immersive being a project manager for a build actually is. None of the other channels show this--thanks! Hopefully "lay" viewers can understand that it is extremely important to gather and implement this information.
That's not an excavator, that's a mini diggie. Forget lunch you got lot's of seat time ahead of you. .
You got that right. Should have brought in at least a 200. I can’t watch.
@@oldschool6798 I wonder if he will go from "Childhood dream come true" to "I hope I never see that thing again."
You guys are great on front of the camera and that's probably 75% of having a successful YT channel.
Combined with relevant, honest content, sky's the limit. Well done👍👏🙌
In Florida, all the new homes build up the foundation well above the street and they bring in tons of fill to raise the slab. Given Houston's flooding problems you won't regret doing this, despite the additional expense.
You never hear builders talk about soil test. Thank you for talking about it
Wow, guys, THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO. I am so impressed with your willingness to take on this project, but also that you are so willing to admit how much you are learning on the go, and how many questions you are asking professionals in other fields to learn what you need to know.
I'm working on a home renovation right now, not my first renovation, but I'm putting in a dormer across the entire rear of my home on the second story and adding a brand new bathroom and master closet. I'll be doing all the interior finishing myself, from plumbing to drywall, and while I've done all that before in small projects, this will be the first time I've ever done anything close to this scope. I admit I'm really intimidated and I have days where I get completely overwhelmed, and it's intimidating to ask pros for help. (I guess I've got a case of imposter syndrome and am afraid of being condescended to.)
This video has totally reassured me that I should be asking way more questions for every part of the process, and I shouldn't be afraid to reach out!! Thank you so, SO MUCH.
Hey guys, being a resident in Houston as well (SW corner) I am concerned that I have not heard you discuss the 100 and 500 yr flood plain. That is an important elevation for building codes. Your finished floor needs to be a required margin above that elevation for your location. Now since your first build project is the garage (detached?), it doesn’t impact that, but it may for your home and the transition between the two. Also for you surface grading, there are restrictions on how you direct your water runoff. Be careful, trying to deal with it after is difficult when there is already a structure in the way. Do you have any storm runoff options to the rear of your property?
Please read the manual and watch any available videos on safe operation or “shake hand with danger”! I know you’ll do a great job.
Good looking out!
I really appreciate the details, the info from the reports, the prices, etc. I know it makes things take so much longer, but I think most prefer that so much more than the bog-standard building video that can be found all over youtube. Also the trio team is part of it!
Beware!
You might want to ask and confirm with the local Building Dept that they wIll actually approve a "certificate of occupancy" on your live-in "attached" garage before even razing the existing main house. My local build dept. would NEVER certify occupancy before "attached" main residence is completed.
"Attached" is the keyword and you should somehow get it in writing and every Build Dept differs.😇
Good Question! I'm afraid that some building depts are not willing to say what they will or won't do. To make "successful" homeowners-builders they (building depts) need to cooperate and facilitate builds that are wonderful (and lasting) additions to the community.
I would not trust anything from any government official unless it was in writing when I had this much money riding on it :p
@@robertwalter2841 that why the plan needs to be submitted as a “ phased” project
Gives new meaning to the term "Dirt Poor."
I love that you are willing to ask questions and follow the advice of trusted experts. You are going to build an incredible house!
Just used my first mini ex this summer! Rented from HD. Dug my first foundation and sewer line for a small house we are building for my father-in-law in our backyard. You’re going to LOVE the ex. It’s a rough dig. You’ll have to shape things up with other equipment but nothing beats the power to move that much dirt. Excited for this build. Keep it up GANG! 💪🏻
I work at a local lumber yard/hardware store... I have been spending a lot of my free time, even at work watching your video's, and have been straight up digging them because a lot of times people off the street walk in and expect I know how to do.... a lot of what you do. Not gonna Lie, I can sell a 2x4 with the best of them, but when it come's to the technical details of how to do this, I'm lost... you Guy's have taught me a lot in a few week's time, and I can now say that I can now serve my customer's better from what I have learned from you
Man I know y'all are working hard but these videos cant come fast enough. This is such an awesome project!
Wow!!!! I had no idea there was so much into building a home. Thank you!!! 😊 also, it's really nice to see father/son working together on projects. Thank you!!!!
The more you document the better!! As far as I see you are the only ones this detailed. I want to build my future house!
Love it! It’s great to watch a very detailed pro with his apprentice as they approach a new challenge, specifically something they’ve never done before. It will be great to watch as this unfolds and you are able to apply your experience and inexperience at the same time. One thing to note: check to make sure you have water leaving your property under control. In some areas run off has to be allowed and some areas it isn’t allowed. Plus it could make or break you neighbours property if bad grading directs everything onto their property.
i used to haul dirt and stone in Humble, and Tomball and the surrounding Houston area and select fill is orange in color and comes from a number of places in and around Houston
Foundation and site prep is the biggest thing I wish we had subcontracted out fully in our build, and we had a great geotechnical engineer and a good base material. Such important details.
I'm directly north of you, in Manitoba Canada, and of course we're also dealing with freezing soils, I'd say 9 times out of 10 and maybe even more, we build on basements. But another option for poor top soil conditions, as an alternative to concrete piles (piers) are helical piles. You likely know what they are, but imagine a giant ground screw. We make them up here to unimaginable lengths for super high depths (if needed, houses don't need anything crazy).
They should have made it simpler. Remove the topsoil until you get to the inorganic dirt layer. You don't want any organic matter under a footing because the stuff will eventually rot, which causes the organics to shrink, leading to soil slump.
Dig until the organic material is gone and the foundation wall is poured to a height to bring mudsill to proper grade.
Engineer here, but mechanical, not civil. My dad and I built houses in the 1990s.
This house will be a fortress
Exactly, forget the heaving, it rots. I used to be a Geotechnical engineer (MS in Civil Engineering). I used to do those reports. No half measures, do what the engineers tell you to. I was also the guy out in the field that did the testing to make sure the earthworks were done correctly.
Go for 10 MIL poly vapor barrier. Tape and seal it up. Codes recently changed to reflect--the 6 MIL is not considered sufficient-- so given your water situation, you may want the upgrade. Nice job on the video series. Looking forward to see you pull this off!
I read somewhere that the vapor barrier shouldn't just be the cheap plastic from home depot, but a cross laminated membrane designed for that specific purpose.
@@briankowald6465 The material needs the correct "perm" rating. Also you are going to be walking all over it, so it should be tough.
building a brand new house with your son is one of my primary life goals. Very cool to see it documented here and excited for when I get the chance to do the same.
Nice!!! I am so pumped to the notification of another video! You guys are going to knock our socks off with this project!
THIS is going to change your lives! What an adventure!
Great vid. Looking forward to the series. If you can, take the soil from the dig out and use that as backfill and grading around the slab. Less expense on hauling off soil and then bring new in.
My husband and I love watching your RUclipss and we're glad you're here in Texas with us. My husband would like to see if you can go to the soil place and show how they test for the PI, plasticity index.
Soil compaction was a major pain on my last build, inspection failed due to the soil compaction. I ended up buying a Pocket Penetrometer to test the compaction after tamping/rolling.
This is FANTASTIC! Thank you guys for teaching us how to cross reference the soil report with the building plans. This just might make me brave enough to go from doing remodels to doing my first new build
You guys are great... This video should be so boring but it wasn't! Keep it up, boys!!
I have a lot I plan to build on and have done a lot of research on site prep, but I thought soil testing was like soil in a lab (like you take a cup of it and go to a lab to test). No! This is a whole different ball game! I am so glad I watched this video, I wouldve f'd up so bad. I now know to find a geotechnical engineer and structural engineer for foundation prep. Thank you!!
You and Penetrator are the tradesmen I always look forward to each week. I'm looking forward to watching both of you grow in the process. Man, understanding the soil is really important. Just make sure there's not buried old creek or drainage that will create big foundation problems.
This video reminded of my dad. He passed on years ago, but he would lay fly ash at the airports. ❤️He was a hard working dad.
Nice. A French drain is going to be your best friend 👌🏻👍🏻
As someone who wants to do something similar in the future, thank you for going over all of the details! These videos are invaluable.
100% going to need some french drains. Make sure it stays uncovered, aggregate only. Oh and use perforated PVC .. do NOT get the corrugated stuff ... clogs up too easy. There's a few channels on YT with a lot of info on them.
You guys are always doing cool stuff, I love watching it. My “teacher/boss” is an older guy in his 70s and he knows a lot but he still does everything the old school way so I like watching the two of you to learn a more modern approach to builds
Nice to see how it's done properly. Thanks for the great videos!
I've been waiting for this one since Paul's truck got stuck in the swamp/yard several videos ago. Kudos to you for making sure corners are not cut and the new structures will last as long as possible!
Dig down your 2 feet, use the soil you pull from the pad area to raise up the yard around the house. If you raise the soil level around the house/garage you can then pour your new soil pack for the slab to the height needed to raise the house pad to a suitable level for house flood prevention.
No. They told you in this video the soil type is sand and sand does not pack sufficiently. Elevation is only one part of the requirement for filling the lot. That is why they repeatedly said the existing 2 foot depth of topsoil must be removed and replaced with another different material (one that will compact). They cannot simply make their problem become their neighbor's problem by building up their lot to have it drain onto the adjoining properties. Doing so would be unlawful ($$$ in the end) and a be really bad neighbor which the RUclips audience will see.
@@jefferywright4204 I didn't say they could reuse the soil under their house. I said they could reuse the soil around the house pad to raise the level of the house pad area above the "lake" problem instead of hauling the topsoil off property. I did not say they anything about raising their entire property to make the water run off to their neighbors land. They said there is city drainage that they are possibly able to drain to in addition to the amount of lot they have to where they can make a drainage area for the water that accumulates on their property. It's called grading. They are able to regrade their property to address these issues and that's what they are finding from the experts around them.
Awesome! Thank you for being so transparent on this process. This will truly be a gold mine of useful info. Thanks.
You'll love the excavator! I put a driveway in at my house and rented one for the weekend a few months ago. It took me a while to figure out how to operate it smoothly, but once I did it's definitely a lot of fun. Just remember, slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. My back paid dearly for the first several hours of me trying to go fast.
Really appreciate you guys. Praying you all are safe from the big storm that rolled through Houston. Blessing to you and your family!
I agree this part of the planning deserves this much attention.
Please forgive me if French drains have been mentioned in the comments but that is what you will need to keep the water away from your building. There is a guy on RUclips who shows how to do it properly.
Someone mentioned rainwater harvesting into an above ground tank but that tank can be buried. I installed a 6,000 litre plastic tank in my front yard, capped it with concrete to stop it being pushed up by the water, covered it with 6" of topsoil for a lawn. I used the water to flush toilets, clean vehicles and water the garden.
Great work as always. You know what you dont know, then you figure out how to know it. This job has 'win' all over it.
Congrats guys! See you in Vegas
Gotta grab a lawn chair and cooler full of beer .. then head to Texas Quite a show coming up!!! LoL!!
You guys just gave me SO many answers to our back yard project. Now I know exactly where to get answers. Thanks so much and looking forward to seeing this Stud Home Build come to life. Let's go Stud Pack!!
Congrats guys, super excited to see this project as it progresses!
Appreciate you guys going through the details of the site prep!
All right a new vid, you guys alway make my day when you post a video. Thanks a million and hope that you get a long and bright future with you channel,will keep watching and learning.
Cemeteries can be a good source of fill soil (for the yard). Also use the soil your remove for the foundation for drainage fill.
This is a big challenge brothers. You would do best with a small bucket dozer, not an excavator.
First mistake is trusting a realtor. They knew the lot was a swamp. If you were keeping the original structure, it is what it is, but if they knew of your plans to build, they should have told you what to expect.
I would love to see the neighborhood topography to see if you will actually be able to get the water to drain from your lot. From the videos, it's a big flat area, and I'm sure the neighboring houses are all suffering poor drainage.
I'd also suggest looking into raising the finished floor grade with a foot of soil so it will drain away from the house, but then you will run into the problem of flooding the neighbors lots.
While I know you're super excited about this project, but after building almost 100 homes, I'd be inclined to walk away.
Keep the faith guys...
I wonder if you can use some of your excavated material to fill in your low spots, and i feel like a French drain will be a great solution to your wet soil. There's another channel here that covers french drains really well, they are Gate City Foundation Drainage
Seems like the soil report says you can either replace the top 2 feet with structural fill OR mix 10% cement into the existing surface soil
Before you start digging, what's your local code on silt fences, straw and soil conservation?
The problem with Houston soil (and most of Texas) is not necessarily the topsoil (your sand, or "sandy loam"), it's the sub-soil clay that causes the problems. Here in DFW it's caliche clay. In Houston, you're more likely to find the black gumbo clay. Regardless, they both expand when they get wet, then shrink when they dry out and this wreaks havoc on a slab. Hence your two-foot tall beams spread throughout your plans. My hope is that you'll be able to re-use the soil you dig up for your future terraforming. Y'all have fun!
This is gonna be a epic journey guys and I'm so glad to see that you are asking the questions and getting the professionals involved regarding the foundation, cause that is a make it or break it for the new Stud Pack home. great video, thanks for sharing!
Great job guys! You’re going to be experts about this! So glad you’re talking too and working with knowledgeable professionals!
It’s sad when ppl skip on steps in order to “save” money but in the long run you wind up spending so much more. I’m glad you’re not taking short cuts on this part of the process so I can imagine the actual build AND interior. Awesome work.
Can’t wait! Appreciate you guys taking the time to go through all the details many just glance over.
This is getting pretty exciting. I can almost see the two of you sitting on the front porch of the Stud Pack house drinking a beer. Great video!
My dad is a General Contractor out in Nevada. I grew up building with him. You our videos are great. Keep it up!
My grandkids loved Hard Hat Harry!
Good info for those unaware of what it takes to do it right. I learned something new myself. One request, could you guys add time stamps to videos. Personally, I really appreciate them. It can help me find information that I wanted to review again.
You guys are by far my favorite RUclips channel. I love your guises work ethic, optimism, And attention to detail and you guys have a wonderful attitude ta boot! I’ve learned a lot so far
You guys make me wish I drive to Texas. This is a great build with your new home. I am so excited to see the progress on the home for Jordan. I have watched all your videos and get ideas on each one. Great job love the build.
Love this channel, just discovered it with the shower renovation, LEGIT
A French drain system will help will carrying water away from the house. Hopefully there is still enough grade that you can bring it further to the back
Great great stuff, Stud Pack. I'm so happy to hear you talk about ALL the engineering and pre job start stuff. Lots of people have no idea how much actually goes into these first steps. Keep your engineers and architect numbers close at hand. It may cost a little more now to do the things the way they tell you. But in the long run, they don't want to steer you wrong because they are vested in you. They don't like law suits anymore than others do.
Appreciate the details fellas. I live about 15 miles from you guys. Built my house 20 yrs ago. I have 110 bell bottom piers under a 2 story home. No settling. I also raised the bottom of slab 18” above grade. Best decision I made in whole project. Talk to your neighbors that have been there 20 yrs to see how water moves in a big storm/hurricane. Find a USGS topograph of the subdivision. Find online. Good luck and welcome!
In my experience , it has always been a benefit to raise the foundation in a situation as what you explained if it is allowed , this way you can make the pitch toward the street thus getting the water away as much as possible , no first time ,pay now enjoy later ,sit pretty , love your videos , I’m doing what I watch you do a lot 2 Bathrooms , sick of the old . Keep up the good work
This is awesome. I love seeing your guys’ excitement, I love that you guys are a father-son duo, and I love how much detail you give us!
This is going to be an awesome video series. Can’t wait to see the finished house in about a year from now. Maybe you should prepare a project plan with milestones and projected dates and then show the progress against the plan and what caused any delays. This to me is going to be fun just watching your build slowly evolve.
Guys,
I have been watching for a while! Love the channel and the normal videos but this series has been super interesting. If you ever have any questions, I’d be happy to help. Degree in construction management, grew up in the field & build 20+ story condos for a living. GOOD LUCK & EXCITED TO SEE HOW IT TURNS OUT!
I never would have guessed 2 feet - I was thinking 4 inches.
I will question if your spoil is worst in the nation.
We have a high clay content soil which expands as it gets wet. That means it shrinks as it dries.
We commonly get 3 inch wide cracks in the ground that go 4 to 6 ft deep in summer.
Exciting to see this process from the beginning. Thank you for the "you don't know what you don't know" part (soil specs, compaction, etc).
Having to wait for your videos sucks but it makes watching them that much better. Good Work you guys!
We are learning along with you. Thank you
Figure out what you want for your floor elevation and add 8" to it. You can easily grade up to and around your foundation.
22:32 “squoze” is way better than vulnable, to me at least!
Doing it the right way, Mike Holmes would be proud!
Now we all have learned how important structural engineers and a proper foundation are to the future of a house build. Thank you for sharing, I’m anxious to see the excavator video!!
Very glad you're doing this right by talking to and listening to what the experts have to say. If possible, host a meeting to get them to talk to each other. Also, it's a big yard. Will you have 2 vehicles in that garage? What about lawn equipment, tools, supplies, etc.? Can the architect design a little bump-out so you can store the riding lawnmower there so that you've got plenty of room to store a couple of trucks in there?
Enjoy your videos. I am getting close to finishing an add-on that doubled the size of our house. First time I have ever tackled such a project. My prior experience has been unclogging drains, etc. I wish I had found your videos earlier in the process, but I am sure glad I have access to them now. They have been invaluable. I am not planning any dirt excavations, but I appreciate the process. Looking forward to the next one.
i've been watching you guys for a year and a half. you have a great relationship and a great channel; the mixture of real experience, information, and positive attitude are fantastic (also Jordan i enjoy acdc a lot too, lol). i'm glad for you guys that your channel is successful, you deserve it. this is a really cool project, and i hope you film and share everything, no matter how trivial. i'm curious about getting the stumps and roots out of there.. good luck, and i'm very much looking forward to this whole series. oh, one more thing, frida kahlo and diego rivera had "his and hers" separate spaces connected by a sky bridge. i've always wanted that feature in a house, and it's super cool that you will have that between the house and garage! cheers! :)
I would recommend installing a french drain out to the storm drain you mentioned. I've installed a few around my property and they work great!!! They will keep the ground so much dryer.
Keep up the great work stud pack! Seeing new uploads gets me excited!
Edit: I like your optimism thinking the engineers are looking out for you. They're stamping the drawings with their professional engineers license so they're just trying to cover their ass but it's to your benefit to ensure a good install.