Foundation on Piles

[pcho]

i understood this video really easily and i am considering purchasing a new property built on river delta. The builder says he used pre-loading as well as piles. Thanks for the info Matt.

[fishfree]

Was in Hanoi in early 90's as owner's rep for our hotel project. Shimizu, one of our short-listed construction companies invited me to observe the "Pile Driving Ceremony" for the Intercontinental Westlake Hotel. Shimizu (design/build) had opted for pile driven cast concrete solution as lower risk, lower cost solution - our engineers strongly recommended cast in place. Hanoi sits on ancient, I mean ANCIENT, alluvial plane and the hotel's location at the lake's edge was certainly problematic. So after much ceremony and fanfare, the ancient pile driver hoisted up the cast pile and started chugging away at the pile: 1st slam PUFF, 2nd slam PUFF, 3rd slam PUFF and the ENTIRE pile shot down and literally disappeared into the murky sludge of Westlake!

The hilarity of the ensuing scene is beyond to description. Shimizu PM and his engineers scurrying about, Shimizu Asia GM seething, the architect trying to make light of it, the owners obvious concern, etc. Then there was the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, and even General Freaking Giap squirming about in their seats. One of the great moments in my life. We went with cast in place piles and paid the substantial premium. Haha!

[simoncassar]

Matt this was a great video. You always produce professionally directed/narrated videos. Please keep making more videos.

[jcfretts]

I'm frustrated by the nay-sayers in the comments. If you want to build a luxury home, on a lake, on bad, wet soil, this is what it takes, and what it costs. You wouldn't use this system on a whim on different site. You would use it here, for people who could afford a custom home on a lake. Or you would use it on an "unbuildable" lot you got a good deal on, trading engineering and construction cost for value-add.

[wiz_kid]

I like how you properly pointed out that the landscape is also pined

[epe]

Awesome foundation and great detailed video thanks.

[go_adventuring]

That foundation is going to be absolutely indestructible.

[stefanoboidi]

Yours videos are great! Thanks! Regards from Argentina

[oneworld]

Amazing detail ... super impressive foundation 🙂

[tad]

Nice job on the vapor barrier. Very clean looking. Start right, finish well.

[awadhassan]

Very nice, clever & more affordable solution for bad soil.

[Psychlist]

This foundation probably cost more than my whole house. Really impressive.

[christopherturley]

Hi i'm in Ireland doing a course in construction and the built environment which leads to me heading to university in September. Your videos are proving very helpful in completing my building technology assignments. Just one question. is the vapor layer, or as we call it damp proof course, placed directly onto the soil or is it placed onto a compacted layer of hardcore?

Cheers Chris!

[johnanderson]

Just the DIY project I was looking for... thanks!

[kaiwenhe]

It was very common back in the days. Good job.

[jameswright-]

how many piles did you end up using and what was the square footage for the slab? Any specific pattern to the placement of the piles (I know you said grid; could you be more specific)? What would you have done if the house were to be raised above the slab on 9 ft beams (stilts); would you have extended the piles with reinforced concrete columns before the slab was poured in? And if the problem wasn't shallow water table, but rather sloped ground and weak silty loamy soil on porous rock bed, would the same technique be used or just rely on soil friction without going deep into the rocks by using top and bottom pile caps through raft foundation?

[mikeycoogs]

What if you needed to have the house lifted in areas with flooding. Could you have a house lifted 5+ feet and sit on piles?

[shenoyglobal]

how do you put drain tiles from the inside the home? or is it not needed?

[MegaThepow]

How much did it cost for the foundation project?

[gdropbox]

That looks pretty close to a vertical well for a geothermal exchanger. You ever think to run numbers and see about sinking some of that Austin heat into the ground? Trying to make a guess based on trying to count the pipes behind you, you might have 1, 000 feet of "wells" dug.