Choosing the cheapest foundation option of all possible, it is very difficult not to make a mistake. There are really a lot of technologies and materials, and the final price depends on a number of factors. And the house needs to be built not only inexpensive, but also reliable, and this is more than half dependent on the quality of the foundation.
What to hope for?
Some say that there is nothing to think about building your own housing if you don't have at least a million rubles in assets. Others, however, are ready to argue: resorting to the latest technologies and choosing the cheapest strip foundation, you can reduce this amount by a third, and sometimes even more. To achieve maximum savings during construction, it is necessary to clearly plan each step, think through all the stages of building a house, and find out in advance the prices for the work of craftsmen and the necessary goods. Many advise to immediately prepare for a long construction site. From year to year, a person will invest in the project some amount available to him, the house will grow, while there will be an opportunityuse the latest developments that appear on the market literally every year.
When choosing how to build and how cheaper to fill the foundation (by yourself or with a mixer - there is practically no difference, although the first option can cost a slightly smaller amount), from which to build a base at home, you should turn to the experience of professionals who are well versed in modern techniques and materials. Some practical options for implementing ideas are not allowed for use in multi-storey construction, but are used to build private houses with their own hands - they help to significantly save on construction. This is especially true if the house is built frame, of wood. Such buildings do not require a capital foundation, there is no need to install screw piles, you can do without concrete reinforced with expensive reinforcement, which means that costs are significantly reduced. It is even cheaper to build a gazebo, a bathhouse, a technical or storage room.
Blocks and alternatives
Houses of one, two, and sometimes three floors, for the walls of which blocks, bricks are used, are often built on foundation blocks. These are ready-made building materials that can be purchased in almost any market or ordered at the factory in the required quantity. It is currently one of the cheapest types of foundation. Many standard sizes are produced, which allows everyone to choose the option to their taste and budget. Blocks were developed as the basis for massive buildings, so you should not be afraid of insecurity. True, it is necessary to choose a quality product, choose a responsiblesupplier.
In our country, there are standards that all production sites that offer foundation blocks to customers are subject to. This allows you not to be afraid for the quality of the cheapest foundation for the house. The standards are designed in such a way that even the smallest dimensions and the lightest options can cope with the load of a small building. Often, blocks are chosen for the construction of objects with a body of steel, wood, as well as for timber and log one-story buildings. However, you need to buy them in stores that can provide quality certificates.
How to work?
It is important not only to choose the cheapest foundation for the house, but also to responsibly treat all stages of creating the base of the building. First you need to prepare the base, remove the top layer of soil until the root opens, then pour a pillow of sand, shed and tamp it down.
The next step is the laying of blocks and their connection to each other in accordance with the technology provided by the manufacturer (the description will be contained in the instructions for a specific product). Next, put a metal or wooden grillage. Reinforced concrete is not used as redundant, unnecessarily burdening the estimate without real benefit to the result. When the grillage is finished, you can mount the lower harness, lay the first crown. It is fastened with studs, insulated, strictly observing the technology of building construction.
As can be seen from the description of the process, blocks are not only the cheapest foundation for a house, but also allowAvoid prolonged exposure to water. Therefore, you can use it at any time of the year.
Tested for centuries: tree
Choosing the cheapest foundation for a gazebo, bathhouse and other small building, you should look at the tree. It has long been used to form the foundation of small buildings in areas where the population did not have suitable stone material. Concrete has almost replaced wood these days, but some still prefer it. Sometimes this building material is resorted to when it is necessary to create a foundation for a lightweight residential building. New opportunities have opened up with the creation of durable and reliable preparations for wood treatment: they eliminate the harm of insects, rot and mold, make the material immune to moisture and fire. Some manufacturers of antiseptics guarantee: a tree treated according to all the rules can be on the ground for a quarter of a century - and it will not be afraid of any troubles.
Having decided for yourself that the most suitable and cheapest foundation for a barn, sauna, house is wooden, you will have to responsibly comply with the technology. Only then the tree will live long when the material is treated with special compounds by immersion.
A narrow pit half a meter deep is made on the site, reaching a length of six meters, inside it is covered with a moisture-proof material, an antiseptic is poured into a kind of “container” and a beam is immersed in it, from which it is supposed to build a foundation. Each copy will have to be processed from half an hour or longer (the specific time is being specifiedformulation manufacturer) in warm weather conditions. During sub-zero temperatures, it will not be possible to secure the material.
Tree: Pro Tips
Although a tree is perhaps the cheapest foundation for a bathhouse, a barn and a small house, it pays for itself only with proper installation. Sand is tamped for the pillow, and the perimeter is decorated with ditches that will help remove excess moisture. Without these protective measures, no antiseptic will save the tree.
If it is necessary to put up a temporary structure, a tree is considered the most suitable option. Builders recommend choosing it if you plan to use the object from a year to a quarter of a century.
All in business
The answer to the question of what is the cheapest foundation for a house can surprise you. According to experts, one of the most affordable options is to build the base of the structure from car tires. What may surprise the layman will not be news to professionals: tires have been used in the construction industry for a decade now. Work begins with the creation of suitable-sized recesses in the soil, in which rubber products are placed, then they are filled with sand and spilled with water, and tamped. Sand can be replaced with fine crushed stone, a mixture of gravel and sand.
If we turn to the official terminology, such the cheapest foundation created by one's own hands can be safely called a dry concreting system. As buta, a mixture of sand and gravel is used. Rubber products become formwork. Strengthof the finished object and the stability of its base are determined by the quality of the compaction of the material and the thickness of the tires chosen for construction.
Finished slabs as base
When considering the cheapest foundations, it is worth paying attention to hollow core slabs previously used in other objects. Of course, this option is not applicable for a residential building, but it suits perfectly for storage, utility rooms, enclosures. The main difficulty is to get high-quality used reinforced concrete slabs. The strength parameters of such objects are high enough that even after some time of service in a different role, the slabs would become a good foundation for the structure. They make the base layer, then tie the frame or lay the first crown of timber, logs.
Slabs, previously used for flooring or road construction, are being used as subfloors in buildings that are under extremely tight budgets. As a rule, such tricks are resorted to when working on yards, additional buildings, sheds.
About prices: how important is the foundation?
It is not in vain that many people who are thinking about creating their own home, but with limited funds, begin to get acquainted with the issue by looking for the cheapest foundation for a frame house, block, timber. On average, the price of a frame is at least a third of the total cost of a building, and specific costs are made up of several factors. If you plan to resort to the help of a designer, his work will have to be evaluated separately. On the other hand, the investment will justify itself: a professionalwill analyze the features of the site and suggest which construction solution will be optimal. The next cost item is geological research, which will prevent future emergencies.
Further, the price of even the cheapest foundation includes the cost of materials and work on arranging the foundation. It is necessary to calculate the formwork and the reinforcement layer. It is necessary to take into account the estimated weight of the building: it depends on which materials can be used for construction, and which are absolutely not suitable. The most economical options are available to those who plan to build a residential building made of wood and wooden panels. Inexpensive foundations are available to those choosing Canadian frame houses.
Tree house
For such a structure, one of the cheapest foundations is a shallow frame with a wooden grillage. You don’t have to make a large pit, and as the main building materials for the supports, wood, blocks, and bricks available to everyone and everyone will do. Installation requires little effort, which means that you do not have to spend money on workers at all, or it will be enough to hire a few people who can finish laying in a few days. The specific price will be determined by the dimensions of the building, the number of pillars depends on them. This option is only suitable for areas with sandy soil.
Brick or block house
The cheapest foundation for a house made of foam blocks will be heavier than a wooden one, which means that the bearing capacity of the foundation should be greater. Buildersit is recommended to choose options for medium or shallow penetration, to give preference to monolithic bases with a grillage of beams or reinforced concrete. If the house is supposed to be stone, it is recommended to make a tape frame. If as the initial conditions - not only a heavy structure, but also complex soil, it is practically impossible to do without such a foundation.
Choosing for themselves the cheapest foundation for a house made of foam blocks or bricks, people save on building materials. This is possible if there is access to natural deposits of stone suitable for construction nearby. Such a base will have good bearing capacity. It is important to remember about weight: if a cubic meter of blocks is on average no heavier than seven centners, the same volume of bricks weighs about one and a half tons.
Monolithic structure
No matter how much you want to use the cheapest foundation and decently save on it, choosing a monolith, you will have to remember that it requires a full foundation, that is, you need a tape type base. An alternative is a concrete monolith; this is more often chosen if the soil is mobile, groundwater is high. Tape in such conditions requires a support sole. Due to the substrate, the pressure of the building on the base will decrease, which means that the bearing capacity will be significantly higher.
To reduce the costs associated with the construction of a strip foundation, you can use concrete blocks for its manufacture. So you can cut spending by almost a third.
Piles as a base
It is reasonable to choose metal piles for the foundation if the constructionIt is assumed on moving ground of increased complexity. With a relatively small financial investment, the foundation of the building will turn out to be quite strong. Often, screw piles are chosen when building on rocks, a very high level of water in the ground. True, when determining for yourself which foundation is the cheapest and at the same time suitable, you need to remember that the piles cannot withstand a lot of weight, which means that the structure should be light and compact. They often stop on piles if necessary to build a house from panels, shields. Such a foundation is good for building a garage, barn or other auxiliary premises.
The main savings of this option is due to the lack of land works that require the involvement of heavy equipment and specialists. All elements can be assembled by hand, while the materials are relatively inexpensive.
TISE
Opinions about which foundation is the cheapest among professionals differ. Some argue that TISE is the best choice. The abbreviation hides the foundation on pillars or piles with supports with a section of 25 cm. Under the pillars, it is necessary to make 60-centimeter extensions, called soles. They significantly reduce the pressure of the weight of the structure, that is, minimize the risk of subsidence of the earth.
TISE is suitable for building a house from blocks, bricks, stone, suitable for frame buildings. The base can be placed on sand, clay and other soils. The reliability of the finished building will largely be determined by the quality of the grillage. Often, rolled metal is used for its manufacture. The alternative is a concrete monolith.
Stove
Although this is not the cheapest option, it is the only applicable on the ground of increased complexity. The basis of the house with this construction technology is a concrete monolith up to 170 cm deep. Builders often call it a floating base. For reinforcing concrete, a frame of increased rigidity is taken. The finished base can easily cope with strong pressure and a significant load. And to save money, you can choose the cheapest way to finish the foundation of the house - for example, just plaster.
The advantage of the slab as a foundation is that the structure will not be afraid of seasonal changes in the soil or high water levels. Uneven terrain or moving layers will not become an obstacle to the long service life of the building.
Eternal classic: strip foundation
This method benefits from ease of implementation, but requires a lot of effort. A non-professional can create a building base, but it must be a strong and hardy person. The finished base will be quite reliable under reasonable loads. The budget version of the foundation erected by this method involves saving on size - the width is made no more than 40 cm, and the height is up to one and a half meters. It should be remembered: the foundation must be above the water in the ground and below the freezing point. Additional costs may be due to difficult soil. For work, you will need concrete and reinforcement, materials for water isolation, concrete additives to improve the quality of the finished result.
To create a foundation, first prepare a trench whereit is planned to make load-bearing walls, then everything is completely poured with concrete - a closed figure is obtained. Construction requires the preparation of formwork. Reinforcement is poured directly on the construction site, due to which the object receives solidity. In order for the finished structure to be durable and reliable, it is necessary to responsibly strengthen the corners - it is these parts of the base of the building that will be the weakest.
Frame house: features
The most affordable and reliable option for summer cottage construction is frame houses. Such buildings are undemanding to the base, they weigh little. When choosing a base, perhaps the most important factors are the relief and soil. You can put poles, make a monolithic base, choose piles, TISE or a combined option.
Having determined the boundaries of the building, pillars are placed under the areas of maximum load - they will play the role of a support. The pitch of the pillars should not exceed 2.5 m, the cross section is calculated for each object individually, taking into account the weight of the finished building, the number of floors and the material from which the supports will be made.
The columnar foundation for a frame house will be reliable only if it is made half a meter and higher. Depth is determined by soil and climate parameters. For the lower strapping, concrete with reinforcement, timber, pipes are taken. The place under the building can be left open or a damper can be created from brick, plywood, slate.
Pillar foundation: technical aspects
For the manufacture of supports using iron, rubble concrete. You can use building blocks, bricks and specialbuilding stone. Sometimes logs play the role of supports, some use round profile pipes. The base is made monolithic or prefabricated, focusing on the features of the material of the supports. If you plan to build a building on heaving soil, it is necessary to deepen the pillars below the freezing point. With stable soil, half this value will suffice. At half the height of the pit, a pillow is made of sand or a mixture of sand and gravel. If the posts do not need to be buried, the level of the sole corresponds to the soil.
The grillage is placed above the foundations, ties them together, preventing tipping over, distributing the load as evenly as possible. If the soil belongs to the category of increased stability, it is possible to abandon reinforced concrete beams, bypassing only the lower trim laid on top of the building material that isolates from water. The easiest way is to build such a foundation from rectangular pillars, and take plywood for formwork. You can refuse it if the density of the soil is above average.
Cheap and cheerful: what are we saving on?
When choosing among all the possible options for inexpensive construction, you need to clearly understand what exactly allows you to save in each case. The base of the building should be simple, requiring a small amount of materials and earthworks. Therefore, it is reasonable to analyze each interested option according to the specified parameters. You can make a table for yourself in which the estimates for these items will be recorded, and then compare the amounts.
The smaller the amount of material needed to form the base of the structure, theyou will have to spend less money on it - this is obvious to everyone. If, at the same time, the laying technology is quite simple, the probability of successfully doing everything with your own hands increases, without spending a limited budget on paying the labor of strangers. An analysis of market offers will also help save money. When buying in bulk, prices from different suppliers can vary greatly. Therefore, you need to familiarize yourself with all possible offers in advance.
At the same time, you need to be aware that building with minimal costs, and even on your own, is a considerable risk. If you make gross mistakes at the very beginning, the venture will end in failure, and the money will be wasted. We'll have to build everything anew, and by investing much more money: as they say, after getting burned on milk, they blow on water.
