Structures Insider
Jan 31, 20222 min
Updated: Aug 13, 2022
by Sherif Issa
It all depends on the building you want to put on top of the stone foundation.
The stone foundation will be kept together using cement mortar or simply be compressed [consolidated] due to its own weight and the weight of the structure that will be added.
Doing a foundation from stone requires experience and a reliable source which could be hard to come by. I prefer you to use plain concrete instead.
The guides and software applications that help you design a stone foundation are few and far between, it will not be easy to design such a foundation confidently | safely, and economically at the same time. You will have to sacrifice one of the two parameters.
In all practicality, for a structure to be supported solely on a stone foundation – it must be a light structure, a maximum of a two-story wooden home. That’s perhaps why no one uses a stone foundation all by itself anymore.
For a larger, heavier building, you really have to go classic: use a regular reinforced concrete foundation system.
A standard isolated footing supported on a bed of stone foundation- image source: Research Gate
The minimum thickness of a reinforced concrete footing in most building codes is 30 to 35 CMs [12 to 14 inches]…. and as a rule of thumb, for each additional floor, you need 10 to 15 CM of thickness depending on the nature of the soil.
Therefore, for a residential building 4 stories high with normal live loads and normal sandy silt soil, your footing would be 40 to 50 CM thick.
So in case you are doing a stone foundation for a 1 story wooden home should be 60 CM thick, for two stories, make it 80 CM. The stones should be kept intact using a concrete mortar and well insulated from moisture.
These figures should be verified using manual calculations – or assisted by design software that specializes in foundations.
Finally, you should have a soil report available about the project site, as you may need soil replacement
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A typical stone foundation supports a light structure. Common in the US, Canada, and parts of Europe — But not around the middle east and North Africa
by Sherif Issa