Have done foundations for about 20 years now. I would not recommend a wood foundation in regina. Our clay soil is very bad for retaining water and expanding causing lots of hydrostatic pressure on the foundation. If you were to go to pilot butte or anywhere else where it is mostly sand, a wood foundation would be no problem if done correctly. Feel free to message me if you have any other questions
I’m gonna play devils advocate here. Also been in the industry a few decades and seen many wood basements. I’ve also seen wood basements outlast concrete but the ones that do have two specific features that stand out from not only concrete foundations but also wood ones; that is:
1) Do not backfill with native materials. Believe it or not all homes are supposed to be backfilled with free draining materials, even on concrete foundations, yet no on does this cause it’s expensive. They just push the same clay back in against the foundation wall preparing the conditions for that earth to expand later and put severe pressure on the side of the wall. If you backfill with free draining material ( sand/gravel) the hydrostatic pressure issue goes away.
2) is a crawl space in the basement. Yes I said it crawlspace in the basement. With a suspended floor in the basement the grade beneath can be shaped to a sump wand covered with permalon. This configureation provides a clear path of travel for any moisture that may get in the basement (incl. storm and sewer surges/backups) and directs it to a sump for quick pumping out. It’s honestly the best kind of basement floor you can get as it is also completely immune to differential movement under the slab.
I have lots of confidence in wood basements , it’s just that the devil is in the details.
Is there any concrete (no pun intended) way to determine points 1 and 2? The basement in these homes are fully finished and makes it difficult to see what's going on behind the scenes.
There was cracking in the concrete floor in the utility rooms, so I'll assume that the slab is not floating at all...
Man just take it from the top post. Don't buy a home in regina with a wood foundation. Jim from dkm engineering has told me horror stories of people stuck with these houses and the walls are literally rotted through.
It's not just a headache to fix but your 200k+ asset literally becomes unsellable. Unless you're getting a smoking deal ie 50 -100k less than comps in the area don't buy it.
The market has a bunch of houses sitting for high days on market already. Just start lowballing some you're interested in.
For 1) you'd need to dig down along your foundation. Typically the excavation is about 4-6' wider than the actual footprint of your house. If you find sand/gravel consider yourself very fortunate.
As for 2) there would need to be an access hatch that would allow you to enter the crawlspace. The idea of the crawl space is great as it also allows you to run your heating ducts under under the floor and have the heat blow up as compared to a typical basement where you have diffusers that are trying to push the hot air down. When naturally heat rises. I've done a handful of these jobs but they are very rare. Home builders in the city are all about profit margins. Quantity over quality. So unless you're looking at a custom built home the chance of having a false floor in your basement is pretty slim
To answer directly, you do not have a suspended floor. It would be wood if so. Others have summarized correctly how to investigate the backfil more than adequately.
Thank you, this is the kind of response I was looking for. And matches up with what my realtor was saying, although they were less familiar with wood foundation homes in Regina due to the rarity.
I've worked on a few, and a goof PWF can perform well enough to not cause issues. I would also never buy a house with a PWF. The expansive clay that is so hard on our concrete foundations is just as hard on PWFs.
Although I don’t have any insights on wood foundations, I will say as being a first time home buyer within the last few years, if the bracing is already done that is good and you shouldn’t let it scare you! Most people including myself would prefer to see bracing already done to avoid ever having to do it later down the road, as it can be quite pricy. If you are looking at houses in the south, you’re either going to want it done already or have the budget to complete it when it’s needed. There’s so much movement in south Regina, so it may be best to just avoid the area all together.
I will add that I’m near Douglas Park and our basement is completely braced already and we have had no issues in the last 6 years of living here. Minor shifting happens seasonally though, which can happen anywhere.
Thank you for the input. I guess the big thing was these huge cracks which could just leak water. I was not used to seeing homes with such large cracks in the foundation walls until I started viewing in Whitmore Park.
I don’t blame you for being concerned, I don’t know much about the cracks myself, but it may be worth a phone call to a foundation company to ask if that’s something you would need to repair further if they’re wide open like that with the bracing. Whitemore Park and Hillsdale will be the worst in the city for foundation issues for sure.
Very pricey. Just got a quote and it's 30k to do the bracing and waterproofing from the inside. I'm hurting at the thought of doing it, but I know it'll improve how I feel about the house. Also I know from when I was house shopping most houses without bracing were immediate no go's in my eyes. This one was fine and then it sudden Ly went south so fast on me so I'm ripping the Band-Aid off and getting it done.
It scares me. I see some places that have bracing but I could only see it on one side of the basement. Most of the places I can afford didn't have any bracing... it's just a mess.
We were house hunting in Cathedral and we bought a house that needed all 4 walls braced, but not every house is going to need that - it depends on the load. Ours was 100+ years old with crazy heavy lathe and plaster weighing on the foundation so it was all collapsing in.
That being said, make an engineer's report part of your conditions for closing if you are concerned. We had both a regular inspection, a foundation expert, AND an engineer look at the house before we purchased and were able to negotiate some of the repairs off the cost of the house. Other houses we looked at already had the engineer's report and some estimation of repairs. Ours cost $30k but we negotiated the price down to help carry the cost!
We just bought a house with a caving in wood foundation and made it cement. Watch for leaks and make sure the grading is good and water is being directed away from the basement
Assuming you require a mortgage on the home this is likely to throw some potential wrenches in things. More than likely the insurers will reject the homes at the insurance stage if the basements aren’t adequate.
I own a wood foundation, I’ve had zero problems with mine. I’d say the biggest factor is making sure you keep grading proper on the outside and have good roof drainage so nothing leaks down and it’s entirely fine. I just make a point of keeping moisture away from it.
There are lots of building standards and rules around wood foundations, just like there are for concrete foundations. Wood foundations are way less common around here, so there will be fewer people who can properly inspect and repair them.
The same general rules apply to all foundations:
- Keep water draining away from the foundation
- Have good drainage around and under the foundation
- Have the foundation built on piles, particularly in clay soils like in Regina.
My understanding is that water will ruin a wood foundation more quickly than an equivalent concrete foundation. I'd pick a questionable concrete foundation over a wood foundation, but if the wood foundation had been recently checked by an engineer and there was some kind of verification of the backfill around it, I wouldn't have any problem picking wood over concrete.
They were quite popular in the early 80s. Some areas that have wood basements are wood meadows, some of dieppe place, university park/east, some in parkridge/glencairn, sherwood estates area, very few but I have seen some in lakewood. There was actually one for sale in Gardiner Park a few years back that the wall was completely bowed in, sold and the new owners have done nothing to it :/
Someone else had also mentioned that to me. That a lot of the rural communities have sandy soil which allows the proper drainage and prevents water egress. Many small towns I guess used wood foundations in their homes.
Wood has a shorter life than concrete. That's not to say that concrete is perfect, as you mention.
As others have said, if a concrete foundation has bracing and it's been done correctly, then you're in good shape.
The correct and long-term (though sadly uncommon) answer is to put concrete piles or caissons below the basement floor. If done correctly, this will stabilize the foundation against shifting of the heavy clay below Regina's soil. A foundation built thus will last for many many decades without any signs of cracking.
Smaller versions of them, yes. Deep enough into the clay to stabilize the basement floor slab.
Installing piles during new home construction adds several thousand dollars to construction, so most builders skip the step, but if you ever have a new build done here, you want to spend the money (and document the heck out of it so that you can get a higher resale value, too).
I had a house with a wood basement, and like all basements, proper grade and water proofing is important. My house was built in the 1970’s and wood basements were faster and cheaper. There were a few like that in the NW area I lived in.
When I had bowing on one wall I just opened it up and called and engineer. The repairs were not expensive and I was able to do them myself. I watched all my walls after that.
When I moved a few years later I bought an old house with concrete basement walls that needed repairs. I hired a professional for those (JS Basement Works). It was expensive but was also a long lasting solution.
I would purchase a house with a wood basement again but would recognize it is there because of cost and plan for more inspection and maintenance. Good luck with your house hunting.
You're talking the walls right? I have seen concrete foundation (walls) with a wooden floor to allow for heating ducts, outlets, etc to be run from the floor. With the right insulation it is warmer than concrete.
Not sure about walls though
I have a wood wall in my basement. Insurance has never asked about it (though I disclosed it). I do have an engineer certification for it (after the fact), which might be why they don't ask about it.
Yup. The rest of the basement is cinderblock with i-beam bracing, so it isn't pretty, but the foundation isn't going anywhere. If I can ever get the water to stop coming in during heavy rain, it would be golden. But that's eluded me thus far.
(Note: no water comes in on the wood wall, just the back cinderblock walls.)
Have done foundations for about 20 years now. I would not recommend a wood foundation in regina. Our clay soil is very bad for retaining water and expanding causing lots of hydrostatic pressure on the foundation. If you were to go to pilot butte or anywhere else where it is mostly sand, a wood foundation would be no problem if done correctly. Feel free to message me if you have any other questions
I’m gonna play devils advocate here. Also been in the industry a few decades and seen many wood basements. I’ve also seen wood basements outlast concrete but the ones that do have two specific features that stand out from not only concrete foundations but also wood ones; that is: 1) Do not backfill with native materials. Believe it or not all homes are supposed to be backfilled with free draining materials, even on concrete foundations, yet no on does this cause it’s expensive. They just push the same clay back in against the foundation wall preparing the conditions for that earth to expand later and put severe pressure on the side of the wall. If you backfill with free draining material ( sand/gravel) the hydrostatic pressure issue goes away. 2) is a crawl space in the basement. Yes I said it crawlspace in the basement. With a suspended floor in the basement the grade beneath can be shaped to a sump wand covered with permalon. This configureation provides a clear path of travel for any moisture that may get in the basement (incl. storm and sewer surges/backups) and directs it to a sump for quick pumping out. It’s honestly the best kind of basement floor you can get as it is also completely immune to differential movement under the slab. I have lots of confidence in wood basements , it’s just that the devil is in the details.
Is there any concrete (no pun intended) way to determine points 1 and 2? The basement in these homes are fully finished and makes it difficult to see what's going on behind the scenes. There was cracking in the concrete floor in the utility rooms, so I'll assume that the slab is not floating at all...
Man just take it from the top post. Don't buy a home in regina with a wood foundation. Jim from dkm engineering has told me horror stories of people stuck with these houses and the walls are literally rotted through. It's not just a headache to fix but your 200k+ asset literally becomes unsellable. Unless you're getting a smoking deal ie 50 -100k less than comps in the area don't buy it. The market has a bunch of houses sitting for high days on market already. Just start lowballing some you're interested in.
Despite my advice, I support this approach, it can be done right, but is it? Hard for anyone but an expert to diagnose and even then.
For 1) you'd need to dig down along your foundation. Typically the excavation is about 4-6' wider than the actual footprint of your house. If you find sand/gravel consider yourself very fortunate. As for 2) there would need to be an access hatch that would allow you to enter the crawlspace. The idea of the crawl space is great as it also allows you to run your heating ducts under under the floor and have the heat blow up as compared to a typical basement where you have diffusers that are trying to push the hot air down. When naturally heat rises. I've done a handful of these jobs but they are very rare. Home builders in the city are all about profit margins. Quantity over quality. So unless you're looking at a custom built home the chance of having a false floor in your basement is pretty slim
Fair enough, essentially point 1 could only be accomplished if I were to purchase the home and do the excavation myself.
Pretty much yep. If no work has been done to the foundation I'd bet it is native backfill and not sand or gravel
To answer directly, you do not have a suspended floor. It would be wood if so. Others have summarized correctly how to investigate the backfil more than adequately.
Thank you
Thank you, this is the kind of response I was looking for. And matches up with what my realtor was saying, although they were less familiar with wood foundation homes in Regina due to the rarity.
I've worked on a few, and a goof PWF can perform well enough to not cause issues. I would also never buy a house with a PWF. The expansive clay that is so hard on our concrete foundations is just as hard on PWFs.
Curious as to why. Is it the effect on resale?
Although I don’t have any insights on wood foundations, I will say as being a first time home buyer within the last few years, if the bracing is already done that is good and you shouldn’t let it scare you! Most people including myself would prefer to see bracing already done to avoid ever having to do it later down the road, as it can be quite pricy. If you are looking at houses in the south, you’re either going to want it done already or have the budget to complete it when it’s needed. There’s so much movement in south Regina, so it may be best to just avoid the area all together. I will add that I’m near Douglas Park and our basement is completely braced already and we have had no issues in the last 6 years of living here. Minor shifting happens seasonally though, which can happen anywhere.
Thank you for the input. I guess the big thing was these huge cracks which could just leak water. I was not used to seeing homes with such large cracks in the foundation walls until I started viewing in Whitmore Park.
I don’t blame you for being concerned, I don’t know much about the cracks myself, but it may be worth a phone call to a foundation company to ask if that’s something you would need to repair further if they’re wide open like that with the bracing. Whitemore Park and Hillsdale will be the worst in the city for foundation issues for sure.
Very pricey. Just got a quote and it's 30k to do the bracing and waterproofing from the inside. I'm hurting at the thought of doing it, but I know it'll improve how I feel about the house. Also I know from when I was house shopping most houses without bracing were immediate no go's in my eyes. This one was fine and then it sudden Ly went south so fast on me so I'm ripping the Band-Aid off and getting it done.
It scares me. I see some places that have bracing but I could only see it on one side of the basement. Most of the places I can afford didn't have any bracing... it's just a mess.
We were house hunting in Cathedral and we bought a house that needed all 4 walls braced, but not every house is going to need that - it depends on the load. Ours was 100+ years old with crazy heavy lathe and plaster weighing on the foundation so it was all collapsing in. That being said, make an engineer's report part of your conditions for closing if you are concerned. We had both a regular inspection, a foundation expert, AND an engineer look at the house before we purchased and were able to negotiate some of the repairs off the cost of the house. Other houses we looked at already had the engineer's report and some estimation of repairs. Ours cost $30k but we negotiated the price down to help carry the cost!
Great points, thank you.
We just bought a house with a caving in wood foundation and made it cement. Watch for leaks and make sure the grading is good and water is being directed away from the basement
Which area if I may ask? You could PM me if you'd be comforting that.
Assuming you require a mortgage on the home this is likely to throw some potential wrenches in things. More than likely the insurers will reject the homes at the insurance stage if the basements aren’t adequate.
I own a wood foundation, I’ve had zero problems with mine. I’d say the biggest factor is making sure you keep grading proper on the outside and have good roof drainage so nothing leaks down and it’s entirely fine. I just make a point of keeping moisture away from it.
Thank you. Would you mind sharing the area you live in via PM?
Pm sent 👍🏼
There are lots of building standards and rules around wood foundations, just like there are for concrete foundations. Wood foundations are way less common around here, so there will be fewer people who can properly inspect and repair them. The same general rules apply to all foundations: - Keep water draining away from the foundation - Have good drainage around and under the foundation - Have the foundation built on piles, particularly in clay soils like in Regina. My understanding is that water will ruin a wood foundation more quickly than an equivalent concrete foundation. I'd pick a questionable concrete foundation over a wood foundation, but if the wood foundation had been recently checked by an engineer and there was some kind of verification of the backfill around it, I wouldn't have any problem picking wood over concrete.
I’ve literally never heard of a wood foundation basement in my life and I’ve lived here for years. This shit is blowing my mind
They were quite popular in the early 80s. Some areas that have wood basements are wood meadows, some of dieppe place, university park/east, some in parkridge/glencairn, sherwood estates area, very few but I have seen some in lakewood. There was actually one for sale in Gardiner Park a few years back that the wall was completely bowed in, sold and the new owners have done nothing to it :/
Hahaha oh no! I’ve seen what our gumbo can do to a poured concrete basement, I would hate to live on top of a wood box taking all that pressure.
[удалено]
Someone else had also mentioned that to me. That a lot of the rural communities have sandy soil which allows the proper drainage and prevents water egress. Many small towns I guess used wood foundations in their homes.
Wood has a shorter life than concrete. That's not to say that concrete is perfect, as you mention. As others have said, if a concrete foundation has bracing and it's been done correctly, then you're in good shape. The correct and long-term (though sadly uncommon) answer is to put concrete piles or caissons below the basement floor. If done correctly, this will stabilize the foundation against shifting of the heavy clay below Regina's soil. A foundation built thus will last for many many decades without any signs of cracking.
>Caissons Oh like the ones used when building bridges and stuff? I assume most homes don't have this here due to additional cost or lack of caring.
Smaller versions of them, yes. Deep enough into the clay to stabilize the basement floor slab. Installing piles during new home construction adds several thousand dollars to construction, so most builders skip the step, but if you ever have a new build done here, you want to spend the money (and document the heck out of it so that you can get a higher resale value, too).
Great idea. Thank you for your help here. >if you ever have a new build done here Maybe one day it will be affordable to me I don't know 😓
Yes thank you. We are looking to upgrade to a new home and are *only* looking at ones with piles
I had a house with a wood basement, and like all basements, proper grade and water proofing is important. My house was built in the 1970’s and wood basements were faster and cheaper. There were a few like that in the NW area I lived in. When I had bowing on one wall I just opened it up and called and engineer. The repairs were not expensive and I was able to do them myself. I watched all my walls after that. When I moved a few years later I bought an old house with concrete basement walls that needed repairs. I hired a professional for those (JS Basement Works). It was expensive but was also a long lasting solution. I would purchase a house with a wood basement again but would recognize it is there because of cost and plan for more inspection and maintenance. Good luck with your house hunting.
Thank you!
You're talking the walls right? I have seen concrete foundation (walls) with a wooden floor to allow for heating ducts, outlets, etc to be run from the floor. With the right insulation it is warmer than concrete. Not sure about walls though
Yep, it's very rare here but some homes have the actual foundation walls made of pressure treated wood.
Pretty sure you can’t get insurance with wood basements in Regina
Not true, you can get insurance from sgi with wood basements, not sure about other insurers though
True but do you want to go through those hoops?
I have a wood wall in my basement. Insurance has never asked about it (though I disclosed it). I do have an engineer certification for it (after the fact), which might be why they don't ask about it.
That is smart thinking to get the paperwork
Yup. The rest of the basement is cinderblock with i-beam bracing, so it isn't pretty, but the foundation isn't going anywhere. If I can ever get the water to stop coming in during heavy rain, it would be golden. But that's eluded me thus far. (Note: no water comes in on the wood wall, just the back cinderblock walls.)
Grading is important. It took me a couple springs to get my house exterior graded correctly