Cement foundation or treated wood foundation...

[leftwing]

I know that in the late 1800's early 1900's the water mains, and presumably services built in Calgary were made of wood. They probably weren't replaced until the 50's. The abandoned wood water mains that we uncover to this day are still carrying ground water and are not leaking. May not be as bad as you think.

[Dumbass17]

Originally posted by suntan
Neither. I prefer CONCRETE.

I think we are on the same page, you must be in construction or engineering.

[90_Shelby]

I have a buddy with a rental property in Whitecourt. The house is ~ 20 years old and was built with a wood foundation. His tenants removed the down spout on the gutter, water leaked down beside the house, then froze in the winter causing massive damage. The exterior basement walls pushed in a couple of inches requiring that section of the foundation to be replaced. Huge headache and cost. I was shocked to hear that wood foundations existed in Alberta.

[bspot]

^ We had similar damage, but to our concrete foundation.

Oddly enough, the prescribed fix by an engineer was to build a wood foundation inside the concrete one. Now the concrete foundation can totally fail, and the wood one will be able to take the entire load of the house.

All my research said install and drainage was the biggest factor and they should have long lives.

For ours, I wasn't too worried as it's just a backup foundation, and inside the old foundation so very protected from moisture.

[jaylo]

We did an extensive research before purchasing our home with wood foundation. It was built by Cody Homes back in '89 and it is an infill lot and we had zero issues with the foundation.

The basement tends to be super warm during winter, we spend a lot of time at the basement because of this.

Originally posted by reijo
PWF (Preserved Wood Foundations - the darker green lumber not simply stained) have been around for a while and have to be designed/stamped by an engineer. Before engineering school I worked on some (carpentry). They are in the Alberta Building Code and there are CMHC/CSA guidelines for how they are to be built.....e.g. drainage system, size of lumber/plywood to resist soil pressure (better than concrete in this regard incidentally!), treated materials, and the special poly wrap used on the outside to provide a moisture barrier, metal ties anchoring the lumber etc.

The biggest advantages are quick construction (wood framing) and better insulation e.g. wood and insulation vs. concrete ... also thinner/added space inside.

I have noticed those wood basements tend to be warmer.

Design life? 75 years just like a concrete basement.

Done properly (like anything) there is nothing wrong with them.

(yes, have built and designed them)

Cheers,

R

[holden]

Bumping the thread just to see if anybody else had experience with wood foundation. Seems like if done right it should have life expectancy similar to concrete. Some benefits are dryer and warmer basements. Biggest drawback (assuming that there is no structural or drainage problem) would be resale value and most buyers being afraid of it.