What are the foundations?
Every building or structure needs a suitable foundation. As we know the foundations are different: builders can use conventional blocks for lightweight or temporary structures, but the serious approach is required to a solid and more reliable foundation if you build more serious designs for long-term operation. There is a wide range of foundation systems nowadays. When choosing a foundation, as at any stage of construction, you should pay special attention, as this part of the construction is fundamental!
The following is a list of existing foundation systems:
- Pile screw foundation
- Monolithic foundation
- Strip foundation
- Slab foundation
- Pier foundation
- Driving piles foundation (reinforced concrete or metal piles)
Which is better – concrete or screw piles?
Concrete is used in the construction of the foundation most often. And it is not strange! The concrete foundation built according to rules and regulations will serve you up to 100 years!
But concrete is not used everywhere and is not used always. Somewhere this type of foundation is inconvenient, not rational, is expensive, and somewhere it cannot be used at all. Therefore, the pile screw foundation became more and more used. The main advantage of such a foundation, but not the only one, is the speed of its construction. The construction of concrete foundation can take up to 3 months, and the pile screw foundation can be installed in 2-3 days, and even faster, depending on the size and complexity of the object.
Let’s compare the fundamental difference between Concrete Foundation and Pile Screw Foundation:
Concrete Foundation | Pile Screw Foundation | |
Requirement for an excavation before the foundation installation | Yes | No |
Construction period | 4-8 weeks | 1-3 days |
The cost of materials and works | High | Low |
The possibility of building a foundation on rocky ground | No | Yes |
Possibility of building the foundation on complex construction terrain and complex soils without an additional excavation | No | Yes |
Ability to load the foundation and install the house immediately after the installation of foundation | No | Yes |
Operation lifetime | up to 100 years (depending on the quality of the materials and the correctness of the work performed) | up to 100 years (depending on the quality of the materials and the correctness of the work performed) |
This table shows the durability of the foundation is affected by the quality of materials and the correctness of the work. It`s important to have a high-quality material (concrete) and compliance with the technological process for concrete foundation. So it`s important to have a high-quality piles and their correct installation for pile screw foundation. Screw piles can be installed correctly and reliably if you use the manual or self-propelled small hydraulic device Torsion.
For more information about screw pile equipment Torsion for the installation, see the article title.
What kind of foundation to choose?
The concrete foundation is perfect for massive buildings made of bricks and other heavy materials, as well as for multi-storey (more than two floors) buildings.
The pile screw foundation will be an excellent solution if you decide to build a lightweight constructions, such as:
- wooden house
- sauna or spa house
- summerhouse
- fence
- garden and landscape buildings
- outbuilding or terrace
- hangar
- vehicular awning
- road signs
- advertising
- solar panels
- berths or pedestrian bridges or pontoons
- playground or similar lightweight construction.