Why did my basement fall in?

Using heavy wet soil with a concrete footing and a drain tile system.

The permanent wood foundation uses the best drainage system known.  No concrete footing and drain tiles. The pea stone system,  using 4" of pea stone under the basement floor area with a gravel footing under the walls and backfilling up the out side basement walls with gravel.  This drains all of the water right to the sump crock and there it is pump or drained to daylight.  No concrete footing or drain tiles to fail. To use concrete footings and drain tiles would effect the system performance.  This builder had to replace his foundation after a heavy rain.  He replace it with the permanent wood foundation system.  "Permanent wood foundations are warm and dry and do not crack". Builder of new wood foundation.

Click on picture to enlarge.

Clay soil backfill and heavy rain.	Drain tile and concrete footing.	Top right: A dry PWF underground home.

Note: Panel foundations can be site built or made in a shop. When made so it cover up items that need inspection by the Building Inspector. Third Party Inspection may be required. (inspect for grade stamps, treatment stamps, stud spacing, insulation, nailing, dip of saw cuts, plywood requirments are some of the item that a third party inspection will note.

All Panel Wood Foundations must be designed and installed in accordance with:
All current Building Codes Standards

While wood foundations are easy to build, this is only true if one is building from an accurate well designed plan. When such a plan is incorrect, or if something is left out of the plan or absent, or if a design is made using a guide manual (these are not design manuals); major mistakes can be made during the construction process. These errors cause problems for the owner, builder, and the building department.

Woodbasement.com a service of Permanent Wood Foundation System (PWF), supported by Southern Pine lumber users affiliated with the training and installation of wood foundations.
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