Making a foundation with a basement or cellar

The construction of any structure requires accurate and correct calculations, compliance with technological subtleties and construction processes. It is even more difficult to start building a foundation with a basement, especially if you want to do it yourself at minimal cost and quickly enough. There are enough options to choose from, you just need to decide what type of foundation is suitable for a house with a basement, and get to work.

The main types of basements

When choosing a technology, it is necessary to understand and know what types of basements exist. It could be:

• Cellar - an additional room shown for storing food. It is important to ensure the freshness and safety of the goods, which guarantees a reduced temperature regime, so the cellar does not have a heating system.
• Auxiliary room for storage of inventory and technical equipment. Here you can vary the temperature regime and use the room as a boiler room, install a septic tank, a pump and other technical devices. Such a basement is an ideal alternative to an extension: the equipment is located in a heated room, "at hand" and at the same time not on the territory of the main living area.
• Another floor. Here the owner can choose the use of the premises himself: for recreation, living, work, under the pool or gym. The arrangement will depend on the choice of the purpose of the room: the availability of heating, water supply, sewerage and other things.
• Workshop or production hall of small format. Also a good option for a basement, which is not difficult to equip with your own hands.
• Garage . One of the most popular options, assuming the presence of an expanded and well-sound, heat, and water-insulated basement. At the same time, there is a fundamental plus - no additional facilities are needed for arranging the access area.

Important! The choice of foundation types for houses with a basement is determined before construction begins. Why is a preliminary assessment of the bearing characteristics of the soil, the freezing point, the presence and height of ground aquifers, and the weight load on the base (calculation of the mass of the structure) taken into account.

Which foundation to choose: determining the main advantages of the foundation

It should be understood that building a foundation for a house with a basement with your own hands will require physical, material and time costs. In addition, there will be a large consumption of materials, in particular:

• Choosing a columnar base, the owner will face the high cost of the process and the complexity of the foundation procedure.
• A slab foundation is much easier to do with your own hands, while the base of the building acts as a basement, which can lead to an increase in the height of the first floor and create inconvenience for entry. Therefore, it will be necessary to equip the stairs for the entrance group to the main room, which will slightly complicate the design work.
• The strip foundation is the most optimal technology, where vertical base blocks are used as a basement. At the same time, the owner can save finances and do everything on their own.

Arrangement of a foundation with a basement: stages of work

When starting construction, it is necessary to carefully calculate the height of the future premises to minimize errors and subsequent alterations. It is very good if it will be possible to stand in the basement at full height, but it all depends on the user's capabilities.

The height of the base must correspond to the height of the basement, taking into account the level of ground aquifers and the freezing point of the soil. The order of work is as follows:

1. The layout of the foundation of the house, in which the stress of the foundation is calculated and the way to eliminate the fact is determined.
2. Drawing up a list of materials, tools (it is better to take with a margin).
3. The marking of the foundation of the house is carried out taking into account the characteristics of the territory of the construction site. It is important to choose the most optimal location for the future structure. Experts offer the following markup instructions:

• drive pegs into the ground marking the corners of the structure;
• pull the threads diagonally, and be sure to measure the length of the threads - it must be identical;
• at the slightest error in the length or shift of the peg, repeat the process.

Now you can start arranging the foundation, consider the tape type of the base, the device of which is well shown in the video, and carrying out the processes for arranging the base with your own hands is not very difficult.

1. Dig a trench around the perimeter of the building, removing excess soil.
2. At the bottom of the trench, fill in a pillow of gravel-sand mixture up to 30 cm high, level it.
3. Line the pillow with roofing material.
4. Make formwork from boards.
5. Build a reinforcing frame from rods, set the mesh to a height of 5 cm below the level of the base.
6. Moisten the formwork with water. Prepare concrete mix for pouring.
7. Pour the strip foundation in layers, compacting each layer and releasing air.
8. Wait for the mixture to harden for 21 days.
9. Remove the formwork, fill the voids with soil.

Now that the foundation for your building is ready, you can start arranging the basement. What to do:

• Dig a pit for the basement. The soil must be removed;
• Fill the bottom of the pit with crushed stone or gravel crumbs of the middle fraction. The thickness of the backfill is a maximum of 15 cm.
• Prepare cement mortar, pour the floor;
• Build wall planes and waterproof the basement walls with any available material;
• Also make waterproofing of the foundation base, where the basement is being built. The procedure will reduce the influence of external factors on the entire structure.

Important! The device of such a base has a lot of advantages, but in order for the floor slab, filled with cement mortar, to be dense and strong enough, the process should be carried out as carefully as possible and using a vibrocompactor.

As you can see, you can build a house with a cellar by creating a strip foundation with your own hands. The technology is available and in demand, especially in areas where the geological characteristics of the soil make it possible to create a base with an increased depth of the sole. The main processes are well shown on the video, so if you have any questions, the master class will give detailed explanations for each of them.

And remember that all processes are best carried out in the warm season: the foundation device requires good drying of the concrete composition from which the foundation tape is made and the cement mortar that is used to construct the floor slab in the basement.