Which foundation is better to choose: pile or tape?

The construction of any facility begins with the preparation of the foundation. The most popular today are tape and pile types of bases. Let's figure out what are the advantages of each of them. This will help you decide which type to choose.

It is not entirely true to say which foundation is better. It's just that each type of base (tape or pile) has its own characteristics and is suitable for a specific type of soil. An objective assessment of the following aspects will allow you to choose the right type of foundation:

• soil features;
• features and type of the facility under construction;
• the originality of each type of foundation;
• financial capabilities, size of the construction site, etc.

Before giving preference to one or another type of foundation, you should conduct a thorough geological survey and take soil samples at different times of the year. It is advisable that the analysis is carried out by a professional. Based on the data obtained, a decision is made on the choice of the type of foundation.

To assess how profitable the latter will be, the calculation of the load that the building has on the foundation will help. Also important points are the presence or absence of a basement, number of storeys and the purpose of the building.

These and many other calculations form the basis of the design documentation. On the basis of it, a plan of the foundation is drawn up, which reflects its type, width, depth, configuration features, pile spacing, shape and dimensions, and features of the section of the latter.

There are several types of soil.

• Stony and rocky soils. They are considered the best option for construction, since they are characterized by strength, frost resistance, resistance to water. However, digging a pit or driving piles into such soil is not easy. The way out of the situation is usually leader drilling - preparation of the well, into which the support is then driven in or lowered.
• Clay. They are distinguished by greater heaving (they are saturated with water and acquire a heaving state, they swell when freezing). Clay soils are not very dense, therefore they are prone to deformation. They are subdivided into clay, loam, sandy loam.

• Sandy. In general, this type of soil can be classified as non-porous, since sand allows water to pass through without undergoing deformation, it lends itself well to compaction. This soil has several varieties. These are gravelly soils (coarse sand), soils of medium-size sand and "silty" soils (based on fine sand, which is close to clay in its characteristics).
• Organic... These include silty, peaty soils.They are the most unsuitable for construction, since they are friable, with a high content of groundwater.

Summing up, we can say that the strip foundation requires a stronger, denser, non-water-saturated soil. This type of foundation is not recommended for use on relief soils, when building on mountain slopes, near water bodies.

The pile method (depending on the chosen technology of driving in supports) can be located on almost any type of soil - saturated with moisture, mobile, clayey and even organic. However, on too dense rocky soils, an attempt to drive a pile is fraught with its deformation. It is also impossible to use the pile-screw method of installing supports. A way out of the situation will be the installation of a strip foundation or preliminary leader drilling of wells for rammed supports.

Among other things, on solid, but not rocky soils, you can try to organize a pile foundation using the soil erosion technique. For this, a shaft is also being prepared, into which the support is lowered (as far as possible). After that, water is supplied to the space between the support and the shaft under pressure. Flowing down, it softens the soil, and also helps to reduce friction between the structure and the soil.

Visually, the strip foundation is a reinforced concrete strip that stretches along the entire perimeter of the building and closes into a single system. It is of two types: monolithic and prefabricated. The first is organized by pouring concrete into the reinforcing cage, the second is assembled from reinforced concrete blocks, fastened together with concrete mortar and additionally reinforced. Depending on the depth of the foundation, it can lie below the depth of freezing of the soil (deeply buried foundation) or above this mark (shallowly buried).

The depth of the strip base is selected based on the structural features. Capital dimensional objects, as well as buildings made of bricks and stones, require a deeply buried foundation. For small outbuildings, wooden or frame houses, you can use a shallow analogue of the base.

Unlike pile, the base of the tape type allows you to equip basements and basements in the house. With high-quality insulation of the basement, you can significantly reduce the heat loss of the building, thereby reducing the cost of heating it.

The basement can accommodate a boiler room, garage, workshop, swimming pool. In other words, you can increase the useful or technical area of ​​the room. However, one must not forget about the soil on which the construction of a house with a basement is planned. It is unlikely that the use of the latter will be comfortable in conditions of regular flooding. Namely, this should be expected during the construction of such an object on soils with a high level of groundwater rise and on highly loamy soils.

A pile foundation is understood as a structure of supports driven into the ground, connected from above by beams or a grillage (monolithic slab on a concrete or reinforced concrete base). The load falls on these supports, which are characterized by high strength. The piles are driven in below the freezing level of the soil. They must bypass dangerous, deformation-prone layers and consolidate on strong layers.

Supports can be made from:

• wood (the least durable, suitable for small wooden buildings);
• metal (can be used for residential buildings on one floor);
• reinforced concrete (the most durable metal structures, poured with concrete and reinforced in the transverse direction with steel reinforcement, are suitable for multi-storey construction, the organization of hydraulic and engineering structures, industrial and agricultural facilities).

The installation of piles can be carried out in several ways. This is the main advantage of this technology - choosing one or another method of installation, you can adapt the pile foundation for almost any, even the most "capricious" type of soil.

All the variety of pile driving techniques can be reduced to several groups.

• Hammering methods imply driving a pile into the ground or pressing it in with the help of special vibration-pressing installations. The method requires the use of heavy equipment, protection of the pile with a special head (so that it does not split upon impact). It can only be applied in undeveloped areas. This is due to the fact that the installation process is accompanied by a high level of noise and vibrations, which negatively affect the soil of the foundations of neighboring buildings.
• Ramming methods (they are also submersible) suggest lowering the pile into a previously prepared well. Its diameter is slightly larger than the diameter of the pipe, therefore, casing pipes are used to fix the latter. Also, the free space between the walls of the well and the lateral surfaces of the support can be filled with a soil solution or an analogue of cement and sand. This method differs from the previous one by reducing the noise level, the absence of vibrations, therefore it can be applied even in dense urban areas.

• Pile driving technique It also involves the use of a previously created shaft, however, the pile is not lowered or driven into it, but is screwed in thanks to the blades in the lower part of the support. Due to this, there is a reduction in friction between the support and the soil, which means that the installation process is simplified.

If we talk about the financial costs and laboriousness of the process, then in this respect the strip foundation loses to the pile foundation - it is more expensive. It involves excavation, the purchase of sand and gravel for the "pillow", as well as the duration of the process due to the need to wait for the concrete to gain the required strength.

Installation of both pile and strip foundations is recommended in the warm season in dry, clear weather. At negative temperatures, pouring concrete and installing piles can be carried out if the level of soil freezing does not exceed 1 m.However, in this case, it is necessary to use special equipment and add special components to the solution so that the concrete gains the required strength. This increases the installation cost.

Despite the fact that theoretically piles can be driven even in winter, such an installation threatens to roll when the soil melts.

On the other hand, if you have the necessary skills, the strip foundation can be organized with your own hands, without the involvement of special equipment. The only exception will be a concrete mixer, which is necessary for pouring a foundation of a large area. If we are talking about the small size of the base, then the solution can be prepared independently directly on the construction site.

However, this statement cannot be considered true for large-area strip foundations. The fact is that to ensure a high bearing capacity, the concrete solution must be poured at a time. With a large front of work, one cannot do without attracting special equipment and hiring a construction team.

The organization of the pile foundation in most cases involves the involvement of heavy special equipment (pile drivers, excavators with a hammer, etc.). If we are talking about systems for vibrating piles, then special equipment can be placed only on construction sites, the dimensions of which are not less than 500 m kV. Only piles with blades can be installed with your own hands. It will be cheaper, but the process will be laborious and time consuming.

A way out of the situation, if it is necessary to build a capital object on weak, moving soils, prone to freezing, will be the installation of a pile-strip foundation. Reviews of professional builders confirm that this option includes the best characteristics of the base on piles and a tape analog. WITHvai provide resistance to soil deformation, and the concrete "strip" takes on the load of the building.

For which is better: tape or screw piles for the foundation, see the next video.