Envision a slab-on-grade as a four-sided walk-out basement with much cheaper and better performing walls, though if you do need to build a basement to optimize sqft on your building plot, then learn best practice for insulating when building a new basement here, or if you have a basement and need to learn how to finish a basement & insulate correctly to avoid mold, see here. In the case of a 'walk-out basement' you effectively have a slab, only with a very expensive and poorly insulated wall. So one is not more 'stable' than the other, or more suceptible to frost heave than the other, if it is properly insulated around the perimeter. Whether you start construction with a slab-on-grade or a foundation, in the absence of bedrock both will be resting on dirt. Since this creates additional floor area underground, it is a natural desire to claim that space, and so born is the basement rec room or man-cave - and it's important to understand how to choose between a crawlspace or a slab foundation too.

In a cold climate zone a basement foundation counts on being buried at depths of between four and five feet to protect the footing and basement floor from freezing temperatures.

Typically, the construction of a single family home in Canada & North America starts with a poured concrete footing followed by an 8-inch thick foundation wall, generally 8 to 10 feet in height. To save money and carbon emissions, and have a healthier and more durable house. For a detailed guide on choosing between a Slab on Grade or a Basement for a home foundation see here, but we'll give conclusions below. Why build on a slab instead of a basement? The technique lends itself to most types of terrain, with the exception of heavily sloped sites, and increasing the performance of slab on grade floors is simply done by adding insulation - yep, we have a guide for how to insulate slab on grade floors when building, here.

Slab-on-grade construction is a somewhat uncommon method of home building that replaces the conventional foundation wall and basement or crawl space with a concrete slab that rests directly on grade. Slab-On-Grade Construction - Technical Guideĭeciding to build your home with a slab-on-grade foundation instead of a conventional basement or raised crawlspace foundation can greatly reduce your environmental impact during construction, and has the potential to offer significant financial savings as well.īy replacing concrete with lower-impact and better performing building materials like high performance insulation, you can eliminate many tons of greenhouse gas emissions from your building materials as well as during the future operation of the home.

Floating foundation house