Pier Foundation

This driveway pier is located in The Snead

on a residential property at the Greenbrier

Sporting Club in White Sulphur Springs, West

Virginia.

The concrete footer is 1 foot deep

and poured just below the frost-

line. Two ½” re-bars are turned

up into the grouted CMU rough-in

to form a monolithic structure

that is well anchored into the

ground. Notice the over-build that

serves as a ledge to carry the

stone work.

Column Foundation

Smith Creek passes through downtown Clifton Forge, Virginia under Main Street and

Ridgeway – and right through the foundations of several historical buildings!

The highlighted area of the following Google satellite image depicts the approximate outline

of the structures supported on various column foundations that were originally designed

over a hundred years ago to allow for unobstructed passage of seasonal floodwaters.

The next few images show the foundations of individual structures identified above.

Antique Shop: Columns on spread footing Main Street: Friction pilings & column footings

Sona Bank: Friction pilings & column footings Ridgeway: Friction pilings & column footings

Arts & Craft Center: Column footings Warehouse: Column footings

Slab-on-Grade

Slab-on grade foundations that are subject to ground movement due to freeze/thaw

cycles include “frost-footers.” The footers are excavated below the frost line and

poured continuously around the perimeter of the structure. Typically, CMU are laid with

a ledge on the inside of the building for the concrete slab, and a short stem wall

extends above the slab to elevate the wood framing to prevent moisture damage.

This slab-on-grade foundation is a detached garage in the Howard’s Creek neighborhood of the

Greenbrier Sporting Club in White Sulphur Springs, WV. Notice the foundation wall above the

slab and the bituminous foundation coating at grade – both to prevent moisture wicking.

This foundation is for a slab-on-grade, outdoor patio at a private residence at The Snead, also at

the Greenbrier Sporting Club. Notice the continuous footer under 2 courses of 8” CMU. This

foundation will be filled with gravel and capped with a reinforced concrete slab which will be

paved over with natural flagstone.

Residential Basement

This foundation for a house on The Ridges at the Greenbrier Sporting Club demonstrates

basement foundation walls, slab-on-grade, and column footings. A continuous footer

spans the parameter and the walls are grouted solid, reinforced CMU walls. The

basement walls are waterproofed with spray-applied polyurethane membrane and

Dimple-board. The terrace foundations (slab-on-grade) have been damp-proofed with

roll-on bituminous coating. The column footings in in the middle of the foundation will

bear steel post that support the beam work of the floor system for the next level.

Crawl Space

This hundred-year-old, double-wythe, brick crawl space foundation supports my house in

Clifton Forge, Virginia. It is ugly – but it is very sound! Notice the continuous footer.

The crawl space was very low (Tightest end was about 10 inches from the dirt to the floor

joists) so we hand-dug the entire space to about 30 inches with brick-walled service tunnels

about 5 feet deep. We plan to cap the exposed dirt with a thin, concrete rat-slab.

Railroad Track Bed (Foundation)

Living in a railroad town, I couldn’t resist this. . .

We might not immediately recognize a track

bed as a foundation, but the mountainous

layers of soil and ballast under strategically

placed wooden sleepers or ties are

engineered to distribute thousands of tons to

maintain straight rails and safe

transportation.