Originally Posted by AkMtnHntr
Originally Posted by Sitka deer
The piers are important... and Sonotubes are hard to match, but the real trick to your foundation is going to be the floor system you put atop the piers.

Look at the "torsion box" as the correct answer and build from there. Floor squeaks and springiness can very easily be engineered right out of the equation... and it is cost-efficient +P.


I Googled torsion box and came up with lots of links for building furniture and some other small things, have you ever seen a foundation built using a torsion box?

Originally Posted by Sitka deer
And, torsion boxes are easy to insulate...


Funny, I was thinking about this last night, building a double layer floor and insulating in between them. This torsion box thing could be the answer to my foundation question.


I have built a number of small cabins and outbuildings with torsion boxes and used them as beams to straighten sagging cabin floors. I would suggest it would save money, time, energy, and reduce the materials needed to build the floor.

I can probably locate drawings I made a long time ago with a couple good designs.

Pay attention to the wind loads as 458Lott mentioned...

Mark Begich, Joaquin Jackson, and Heller resistance... Three huge reasons to worry about the NRA.