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Footer/Foundation with Brick Ledge

Footer/Foundation with Brick Ledge

Footer/Foundation with Brick Ledge

(OP)
Hi,

We are building a new house with a basement. All
we currently have is a 6-foot hole plus a footer
that is around 20"-24" wide depending on where
you measure at. Our builder layed out the footer
for our house but forgot to add 4" all the way
around the house for a brick ledge. So our house
will be 4" less in size all the way around (about
60 sq feet in total). Can the foundation walls for
the basement (which are going to be poured) not be
centered on the footer?...like maybe out 4" so that
we can regain our space back into the house?
The footer was framed and is sitting on soil and
has no gravel under it.

Thanks

RE: Footer/Foundation with Brick Ledge

Assuming a lightly loaded footing, the wall can be eccentric to the footing centerline, provided you have good soil conditions and the footing is appropriately reinforced.  This is also assuming you are using a standard 8-inch (or close to that) concrete masonry unit for the walls.

Be sure you don't get caught in an argument with your local building inspector if you decide to take this route.

You could also require that the contractor add onto the footing that exists.  This would be done by adding at least a 6-inch wide section, dowelled into the existing footing and epoxy bonded at time of placement.  It won't be cheap, but he screwed it up so consider it.

RE: Footer/Foundation with Brick Ledge

Also:  my next door neighbor, upon building his house, had a basement wall with brick veneer.  The brick veneer was intended to extend from the ground up to the main floor level (about 2 to 3 feet above the ground).  However, when the contractor built the basement wall, he failed to account for the brick.  To solve this, he used an adhered brick veneer which was a thin (1/2" thick) brick which was epoxied onto the face of the basement wall.  It looked just like real brick.  Only problem was:  the basement wall was quite irregular and the brick looked sloppy.  My neighbor made them take it off and applied a shelf angle, just below grade to hold the small height of "real" brick.

If your brick is intended to extend all the way to the roof, this adhered method may not be appropriate.  Just a thought.

I'd agree with Ron to extend the footing and put the basement wall where it belongs.

RE: Footer/Foundation with Brick Ledge

The lack of information regarding the Allowable Soil Bearing Capacity vs. the Building Loads makes answering this question rather difficult. You may not have any real problems if your site/building conditions are 'normal' (What ever that means in this world.

For example, If the soils are reasonably stiff, Have an Allowable Bearing Capacity of 2000 psf, The builder moisture conditioned and 'proof rolled' the soils prior to placing the footing and If the structure is relatively light, 2500 to 3000 plf (Dead Load + Live Load),  then offsetting the basement wall 4 inches will probably cause no problems.  

If the soils are very soft  and/or if you have fairly large building loads, some rotation of the footing MAY occur. It should be noted that the amount of, location of and anchor shape/configuration of the reinforcing dowels extending up from the footing, into the basement wall, will have a lot to do with whether a problem occurs, assuming the worse conditions are realized.

As I do not have a good feel as to what your soils and structure conditions are, I would recommend you obtain some local advice and a site visit from a professional, probably Geotechnical.

RE: Footer/Foundation with Brick Ledge

Well, if all else fails, this may be the end result.
Why not just pour a new properly designed footing directly over the existing...using the misplaced footing as  the "good bearing soil" .. This new raised footing could be designed to be flush with the inside finished basement wall and overhang the outermost surface on the exiting footing below. You could pour it all at one time the..."new reinforced footer and wall".

Ray

RE: Footer/Foundation with Brick Ledge

Your 'Angle Iron' is the same as the ' shelf angle' mentioned by JAE in an earlier post. I have used this method for supporting brick veneer up to 10 feet high. The method is used for greater heights of brick. If you are planning to support more than 4 feet of brick, I would suggest a little professional help, rather than depending on the superformproduct web site or on this site. The calculations and angle installation are straightforward but, a look at the plans is necessary.

RE: Footer/Foundation with Brick Ledge

I am in the process of putting brick on a 10 year old house. It has a 8" pour concrete basement wall with no brick ledge I was wondering whats the best way of putting a brick ledge on. I heard about a steel angle bolted o, but not sure if its safe. I will be going up about 10' high on the wall with brick. If you know someone that has did this let me know Thanks  Greg I will give you more info if needed Thanks!!!!!!

RE: Footer/Foundation with Brick Ledge

If the angle is sized correctly and the bolts are sized and spaced correctly, a bolted angle brick ledge is fine.  Depending on your enviornmental conditions at the site, you might want to consider a galvanized angle, but it isn't always necessary.  Without doing the calcs, I would GUESS that a 4"x4"x 5/16" angle with 5/8" diameter wedge bolts at 2'c.c. would be close to what you need, but you should check it.  

Don't forget flashing and weepholes.

RE: Footer/Foundation with Brick Ledge

I am experiencing a similar problem to Mr. B's.  The contractor is recommending that we put in the 4" brick ledge in the 8" poured basement walls and then since the basement will be finished out put a 2x4 wall around the inside.  The  4" of poured wall and the 2x4 stud wall inside will then support the 2x6 sill.  Does this sound like a reasonable approach?

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