Browse Forums Owner Builder Forum 1 Mar 01, 2011 12:10 pm Hi, Is there anyone out there that could give me an idea of the procedure of having the footings / foundations / slab done. I would like to owner build in the near future, I am a newbie so please excuse my ignorance! The way I figure it the procedure goes something like this: I pay a surveyor to layout the footprint of the site for me, I supply him with my building plans & the results of a soil test, he marks out the site with stringlines & tells me how deep & wide the footings have to be dug. - question - can the surveyor tell me the depth & width of footings or is this the job of an engineer? Next step, footings / trenches are dug, prepared & poured. Next step the slab is prepared & poured. Please, if anyone can elaborate on this or correct me I would really appreciate it! Re: Procedue for laying foundations & slab 2Mar 01, 2011 12:49 pm Surveyor will mark out what you want him to mark out. Depth of slab, footings, and piers all engineer related and specified Various ways to lay slab and footings, some do two pours some one pour, piers are usually separate from slab pour. Engineer may specify. Waste drainage is done before the pour, plumbers job or at least plumber sign off. May have cables in the slab for island benches or something then sparky needed. Council not only approve the plans they also inspect ( or an independant inspector) plumbing, all concrete related placement before pour. Then being owner builder you can do all the above yourself but need plumber and sparky sign off. Good Luck Pulpo Re: Procedue for laying foundations & slab 3Mar 01, 2011 8:38 pm 1. Get a surveyor to pick up the slab for you, as per plans. Concretors ARE NOT qualified to do that properly, so you may end up with the slab out of square and off size if you leave it to them. 2. Get a qualified formworkers to do the forms. Again, concretors may not be qualified to do that, so your slab may have kick-ins in the edges, bows and other faults. 3. Make sure that the concretors DON'T RINSE THE SHUTE AND PUMP INTO THE MIX. There'll be cracks if they do. You have to stand there during the pour and watch them like a hawk. 4. Don't let them dump any unused concrete on your land. 5. Make sure they vibrate the mix thoroughly during pour. 6. Choose and prepare the curing method for your slab: oil spray, ponding, plastic cover. Separate surveyor and form worker will cost quite a bit more, but it'll be money well spent. Slab is THE foundations of the house and faults are very hard and costly to fix. Chris My father rode a camel, I drive a car, my son flies in a jetliner, his son will ride a camel.Saudi saying Re: Procedue for laying foundations & slab 4Mar 01, 2011 10:07 pm We got a surveyer to give me RLs DA approval Construction cert by private certifer. You can use the council if you want. Engineer to specify the technicals and slab Mpa we marked it out We dug the trenches Plumber is in doing the rough in of pipes. Concreter or we will do the fill, compacting and formwork. Certifier will do a check. concreter pours slab. It's being done in 1 pour. Also a good idea to have a few places set out in case there is extra concrete. We're setting out some footpaths that were dug up to get the pluming in. Re: Procedue for laying foundations & slab 5Mar 02, 2011 8:22 am Thanks for the replies! All of it handy info. 1sthome, you say you got the surveyor to give you RLs - what are RL's?? (once again please excuse my ignorance) Also, what kind of an engineer would I approach in regard to designing the depth & specs of the foundations? thanks again for the help Re: Procedue for laying foundations & slab 6Mar 03, 2011 9:15 pm You need a civil building engineer for specs of foundations and concrete to be used. our situation was a bit of a guinea pig in that structural work by the previous builder was defective and the house was almost completed, and our structural engineer… 1 4971 Hey There. No problems re jumping in. My original question was "should I have waterproofed" the concrete slab before putting batons down. We have been told we should… 7 4328 I'm about to put down some Merbau. Is it necessary to oil underneath the boards before laying? 0 1935 |