Different Types Of Foundation

On this article, i have decided to describe the different types of foundation in construction. This will also help you as a home owner know the exact type of foundation currently on your building, it will also show you the different types of concrete foundation applicable to construction.

What is a foundation?

According to a Post i made sometime ago, i defined a foundation as one of the most important stages in a building construction, it is also the lowest part of your building and the most important element in your substructure.


What are the different types of concrete foundation?

As a Nigerian Building Contractor, i can highlight a few types of concrete foundation and these include:

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1. Strip Foundation: Among the different types of a concrete foundation is the Strip foundation. This is most prevalent in areas where the soil bearing capacity is considerably high. It is a type of shallow foundation since its width is often times 3 times its depth.

different types of foundation




2. Pad Foundation: This is where isolated columns (pillars) are casted from the foundation to carry a slab at the top of the ground. This is mostly used when you want to make use of the under of building as parking space or when the other space is not conducive to have foundation. Imagine you are planning to build a house across a flowing stream and you want a situation where you can use your boat to pass under the building because the stream is under . 

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Then you may not need to dig foundation that will cut across the river but just by applying columns (pillars) at the edge of the river like a bridge, this columns are thus isolated and there foundations are refereed to as pad.



3. Raft foundation-This is where you have concrete spread around your building from the base of foundation all through to the german floor/oversite concrete/ground floor slab. It is mainly used in areas where the soil are sandy and loose, you spend more on this than the other previous two most of the time. It is also recommended in waterlogged areas but with buildings of less storeys It has a ground beam which shuts out from the foundation base and is also attached to the ground floor slab to form a network of concrete embedded round the building space. The ground beam are usually from 600mm to 1200mm for low buildings.



4. Pile foundation-The most expensive and the strongest type of foundation, this requires specialist engineering to do. The soil are bored deep down the earth and filled with concrete to be able to support loads of multistory building on top. Most skyscrapers are constructed with this foundation type, a waterlogged area of high building may also require this. It is the most expensive. Hence it is used for high rise buildings in most cases.

Now these are the different types of foundation, the most commonly seen types of foundation in Nigeria. You can also decide to add more content to Make this post better by using the contact details found on the “Contact Us page”

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Hi, I'm Okpese! It is my job to handle the content aspect of this great organization and I'm determined to ensure you get it all right as long as you're handling a construction project in Nigeria!

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  1. This post is very useful for us. Because we have a lot of tips and tricks from this post. Thank you for this amazing post share.
    When Only the Best screw will do. When and where to save on piling costs with screw piles.
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