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Slab or cellar is often a frost line depth issue which is the northern parts of the US can be 6ft deep. If a foundation was not below the frost line (as in requiring a cellar) there would be frost heaves resulting in tilting, cracking, and worse. Also water/sewage lines have to be below the frost line to prevent freezing.
In the South where there is not a frost line, slab construction is the most typical even with Million dollar homes as there is no concern with the frost line.
Typically water/sewage lines in a cellar are easier to get at and repair but the cost of the cellar adds quite a bit to the price of the house. Slabs can also be dug under to fix problems but it becomes a cost trade off. Rip up the flooring and repair from above or dug under the slab and go up.
Location: Finally the house is done and we are in Port St. Lucie!
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Originally Posted by johngolf
Robino
Slab or cellar is often a frost line depth issue which is the northern parts of the US can be 6ft deep. If a foundation was not below the frost line (as in requiring a cellar) there would be frost heaves resulting in tilting, cracking, and worse. Also water/sewage lines have to be below the frost line to prevent freezing.
In the South where there is not a frost line, slab construction is the most typical even with Million dollar homes as there is no concern with the frost line.
Typically water/sewage lines in a cellar are easier to get at and repair but the cost of the cellar adds quite a bit to the price of the house. Slabs can also be dug under to fix problems but it becomes a cost trade off. Rip up the flooring and repair from above or dug under the slab and go up.
Don't get me wrong, I understand the why in the Northern states.
No current house (since 2000 at least) should have plumbing in the slab. Current practice calls for copper piping, and for all joints to be made above the slab (in the walls). So if you have a run longer than the longest piece of copper available, they are required to bring the pipe up above the slab, make the joint, then go back down under. It's extremely rare for a straight run of copper to develop a leak, but leaks at joints can occur. Hence the new codes.
I have a winter home in Arizona that has plumbing in the slab. It was built in 2005.
You'd lose the bet here. Most often the rough in potable water lines are tied to the cables or steel to keep it IN the slab and on top of the vapor barrier. Probably the differences between building techniques across the country. Just like our local code would fail the above pics. The only lines that you can use PVC piping on are the A/C drainlines and the sewer system. No pressurized potable water lines in PVC is acceptable. For us here with our high PI soils, if you were to put the lines UNDER the slab, the bag and fill sometimes falls to several inches below the actual bottom of the slab. So you would have a pocket of air there and the piping would be literally hanging or going up and down with the vertical displacement of the soil. WE have up to 16" of vertical displacement here. That equates to broken lines. So how much did you lose on that bet? LOL!
You'd lose the bet here. Most often the rough in potable water lines are tied to the cables or steel to keep it IN the slab and on top of the vapor barrier. Probably the differences between building techniques across the country. Just like our local code would fail the above pics. The only lines that you can use PVC piping on are the A/C drainlines and the sewer system. No pressurized potable water lines in PVC is acceptable. For us here with our high PI soils, if you were to put the lines UNDER the slab, the bag and fill sometimes falls to several inches below the actual bottom of the slab. So you would have a pocket of air there and the piping would be literally hanging or going up and down with the vertical displacement of the soil. WE have up to 16" of vertical displacement here. That equates to broken lines. So how much did you lose on that bet? LOL!
Building a home on Black Gumbo is a course in damage control- one way or the other it's going to happen. It's just a matter of how to eliminate as much as possible. And with the wacky weather Texas has experienced over the past couple of decades maybe a moratorium(?)- oh wait, no additional revenue- never mind!
Colorado isn't immune from expansive soils (Bentonite), but they certainly seem to have a bit better "damage control" protocol?
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