Replies

1. 
   Don_Berinati | Jan 20, 2001 08:29am | #1

   *
   I've done a few of these. First thing I'd do is get a soils engineer out to your site; dig a few holes and see what you're up against. Listen closely to him/her. Then take your ideas to an engineering firm that has a good foundation person on staff. Listen closely again.
   The entire project and your happiness hinge on what these people say.
   Good luck -
   Don

1. 
   Jim_Walters | Jan 20, 2001 01:53pm | #2

   *Last summer I built a 2200 sq. ft home on a steep hillside going down to a lake. The homeowner gave me a magazine floorplan and I designed the house. He also insisted on an attached garage. It was difficult, to say the least. Garage was a major consideration, so I ended up balancing the pitch of the driveway against the walkout on the basement (downhill side) which ended up being a good six feet above ground level. Here's what I did.... After trenching and pouring the footers in the virgin soil, we built up the block wall to basement floor height, dug a series of holes inside the basement area and filled them with concrete, from each block of concrete there was a rod extending through the block wall and bolted on a large washer. This was done to make sure the wall stayed put. Then we backfilled the inside uo to basement floor level.On the uphill side, we used 12" block and made sure there were pilasters or enough jogs to keep it from being too long.I also have two 6" French drains running under the house to divert any ground water (and a large drain across the front of the garage) I have picture of the place on my website. It's the ranchy looking one with all the decks and railings on the back side. All went very well, but the extra ground work was more expensive than normal of course. If in doubt, overkill. J. Walters http://www.jjwalters.com

1. 
   Luka_ | Jan 20, 2001 11:04pm | #3

   *Jim, this picture doesn't seem to be available on your website...(I am posting a double size image of the thumbnail that you have on your site. This thumbnail is supposed to take you to a larger version of the same picture. Clicking on the thumbnail gets you a message that the url is not available on your server.)http://www.jjwalters.com/evistback.gif Would it be possible to get a look at this picture, and better yet, do you have more pictures of this house ?

1. 
   Jim_Walters | Jan 21, 2001 02:26pm | #4

   *Thanks for the info LukaI just redid the whole thing cause I'm finally getting serious about selling furniture and stuff. Graphics are a pain and do different things on different browsers, I'll check into it. Those are the only pictures I have. There is a front view on the New Homes page. The drive as you'll notice is steep, but the homeowner was adamant and the inspector approved. I built him a spot at the top to park when it was icey. From that rear view the basement sits level with the lower railing, some six feet of the ground.

1. 
   P_D | Jan 25, 2001 08:35am | #5

   *Thanks for the advice Don, Jim and Luka.

2. 
   P_D | Jan 25, 2001 08:35am | #6

   *
   I am considering building a house on a hillside. The slope is about 45-50 degrees and the vertical rise is about 25-30 feet. I would like to start the footings about half way up the slope. This will place the lower 1 or 1 1/2 stories into the hill. The west wall will be at the lowest point in the hill. From the west wall back towards the peak of the hill would be about 20 feet. The hill levels out on the east side. So, the house would be on both hillside and level ground.

   Does anyone have any pre-construction or design suggestions? I am particularly interested in any extra considerations in stabilizing the foundation and making sure that the house stays put. Also, any general construction tips, suggestions or concerns, that you have learned from experience, pertaining to working/building on the hillside would be appreciated.