Building on clay

3031 Views 2 Replies 3 Participants Last post by Willie T, May 16, 2009

Alaskaarmyband

Discussion Starter · May 16, 2009

Hello,
Looking for advice about building on clay, Is this possible? I'm building a 16x16 sauna /change room / porch and It has to be cheap so we were going to go with railroad ties, the entire property is deep (at least 5 feet) clay so there is no way around this. If this is possible how do we go about preparing the ground. Someone suggested putting the ties on cinder blocks so when it inevitably shifts it would be easier to shim, not sure about this but any suggestion is good at this point.
Look forward to any input.

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Willie T

· #3 · May 16, 2009

Around here, Florida, we don't go very deep for foundations. But we seem to have the best results by first harrowing into the clay, discing about two feet deep, lots of plain old hay. The problems we encounter are seldom clay's ability to support weight. More often it is its inability to support it stably. The introduction and infiltration of hay seems to eliminate the slimy layers of clay. and keeps it from sliding.

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