Commercial foundations vary based on soil conditions, size of the building, and budget. Depending on the estimated live, dead, and external loads, civil engineers will design a foundation with the ideal estimated load capacity. In this way, they guarantee the security and stability of the building. So, if you’re planning to erect a new building, warehouse, office building, etc., here we present you the commercial foundation types.
By knowing the common types of foundations for constructing commercial buildings and their benefits, it will help you choose the best fit for your requirements. Also, by learning more about concrete foundations, you’ll know how to hire a qualified and experienced concrete contractor to get your work done professionally.
Why Is a Solid Commercial Foundation So Vital?
Due to higher compressive loads and stress, foundation types for commercial buildings are built to the strictest standards.
The bigger the building, the more it will tend to sink, or scramble. So, the role of a building foundation is to prevent troublesome settling and guarantee stability to the structure.
Foundation is the structural element that bears all the dead, live loads, and the environmental loads of a building.
For a reinforced concrete building, some dead loads are the frames, walls, floors, ceilings, stairways, roofs, and plumbing. Live loads refer to changing loads in magnitude and position. Some examples of live loads are people, furniture, vehicles, computers, etc.
And all this weight and stress rest upon the foundation footing and such loads are simultaneously transferred to the soil.
So, engineers and concrete contractors must build a foundation strong enough to keep a building standing. A building must remain erect even after being hit by intense hurricanes, winds, or shaken by an earthquake.
Foundation Types for Commercial Buildings
Without further ado, here we tell you about the most reliable foundation types used in commercial buildings.
The two broad categories are shallow foundations and deep foundations.
In simple words, the terms shallow and deep foundation refer to the soil’s depth at which a foundation is built. It’s important to mention that shallow foundations are ideal for lightweight structures. While deep foundations offer a solid footing where soil conditions are poor, load requirements high, and the building to be erected is a couple of stories high.
Shallow Foundations
Individual Footing
These foundations are the standard in ordinary buildings typically up to five stories.
This foundation type is ideal for supporting, conveying, and spreading concentrated column loads directly to the soil.
So, in simple words, this type uses single columns to transfer the loads to a spread footing that distribute uniformly loads to the ground.
For you to know, a spread footing foundation has a wider bottom portion compared to a load-bearing column/foundation. Then, the wider, rectangular bottom “spreads” the weight of the structure over a larger area for greater stability.
The number of individual footings will depend on the load bearing capacity of the soil, and building weight.
Click here if you want to learn more about the wide use of spread footings in commercial construction.
Wall Footing
This type of foundation looks like an enlargement of the bottom of a wall that will be enough to transfer and spread the building loads to the soil.
The wall foundation is a continuous strip footing along the length of the wall.
Civil engineers and architects use this foundation type around the perimeter of a building and depending on the load requirements, they can use it for interior walls.
Combined Footing
In some projects, civil engineers and concrete contractors will combine strip footing (wall footing) with individual footing (column foundation).
By combining both foundation types, engineers build the ideal support to bear the building weight and compensate for the poor load bearing capacity of the soil.
Concrete engineers design each combined footing to support two or more column loads. And they recommend this foundation type for constructing buildings in restricted dimensions or near a sewer line or property line.
Raft or Mat Foundation
Mat foundation or raft foundation is a reinforced concrete slab over a large area used to bear many columns and walls.
Among the shallow foundations, the raft foundation is the one that can manage bigger loads.
Engineers and concrete contractors recommend this foundation type when the soil load capacity is very poor and column loads are large.
The whole basement works as a concrete slab foundation. The total load of the structure is spread evenly over the entire area of the structure.
Thus, the building will float at ground level on the raft foundation.
Types of Deep Foundations
Pile Foundation
The pile foundation is a widely used type of deep foundation. This foundation system uses concrete drilled piers to transfer a huge amount of loads to the soil strata.
Piles or drilled piers are generally arranged in groups or clusters, one under each column.
So what is this drilled piers’ thing?
A drilled pier is a deep foundation system that uses large diameter concrete cylinders buried on the ground.
For the construction of a drilled pier, civil engineers will excavate a large diameter hole somewhat between five meters to fifty meters from the surface to reach the hard rock. Then, they will pour concrete on the reinforced cast, creating the adequate bearing capacity.
Once all the concrete drilled piers cure, which can take more than 28 days, the building contractor will continue to build upon that.
Civil engineers and concrete contractors will build a pile cap which works as a spread footing that transmits the load from the structure and beams to the group of piles.
Pile caps are slabs of reinforced concrete ideal for distributing column loads to groups of drilled piers buried in the ground.
To sum up, pile foundations transfer the structure’s heavy load to a hard rock much deep below the ground level where you cannot use shallow foundations.
This type of foundation is the best option when the building load is massive and concentrated. Also, it is the only foundation that can be used to build over compressible soil conditions or wetlands.
Build and Invest Upon the Right Foundation Type!
Now that you know about the foundation types for constructing buildings, you need to find the advice of a civil engineer or the right concrete contractor. They can evaluate the challenges of the project. Then, they will advise you on the ideal foundation type for your construction project.
If you have any questions due to your project, you can count on us.
Mendez Construction has vast experience in commercial construction, so we can guide you and clear all your doubts. And if you decide to take the next step with us, call us.
We’ll gladly help you make your project a reality!