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Elevated front porch with slab foundation
Posted on 4/12/23 at 8:00 am
Posted on 4/12/23 at 8:00 am
I’m in the early stages of planning a home build and am looking for some advice/opinions. Most new construction around us have slabs on grade. I would like an elevated (maybe in the 20”-24” range) front porch. I’ve seen examples of this that look like a monolithic slab with continuous concrete porch and also a wood porch tied into the home slab. Does anyone have experience or advice to achieve this kind of look? For the concrete porch, is the home slab typically in the 4-6” range and the porch area just deeper concrete with a lower grade to give that elevated look while maintaining a level threshold between porch and front door? I have zero experience with concrete foundations, sorry if these questions aren’t super clear. Appreciate any insight y’all might have.
5
Posted on 4/12/23 at 10:13 am to AyyyBaw
Your house slab will also have a deeper concrete footing around the perimeter. They'd probably continue that and maybe make the footing deeper at the porch to expose more of it. infill under the porch slab with dirt.
Other option would be to build a wood structure. Local codes would probably require a concrete footing of some sort under that with CMU or masonry piers to support the wood.
Other option would be to build a wood structure. Local codes would probably require a concrete footing of some sort under that with CMU or masonry piers to support the wood.
Posted on 4/12/23 at 10:43 am to modes
Makes total sense about the deeper footing for aesthetic purposes and maintaining the normal slab depth inside of the footing. Thank you. I figure there will be less maintenance over time to go that route instead of a CMU foundation with wood decking.
Posted on 4/12/23 at 11:01 am to AyyyBaw
How much roof weight will be on the porch post? You don't want the porch settling at different rates than the main slab.
Posted on 4/12/23 at 11:14 am to wickowick
If the original home plans call for an integrated front porch with posts on slab, and we use a mono slab then it should settle at the same rate correct? Assuming all dirt work is done properly and foundation tests return normal. Just talking about a deeper footing than in original plans. I could definitely be missing something here though - no experience with foundations.
Posted on 4/12/23 at 4:06 pm to AyyyBaw
my house is what you describe (the look) and you're gonna pay out the arse on concrete to do it right.....
Regardless of what you want, the engineer of record will required grade beams around your entire front porch. you'll have a regular 4" thick slab but your grade beams will be +-18" into existing soil + the 20"-24" above.
You can get away with only having the front part "thicker" and bringing the dirt up higher around the rest of the house. it makes your house look like it's sitting on a mound of dirt. But would be substantially cheaper. (to do this you'd have to build your house pad and let the dirt settle for x amount of time) Or you pour the whole house at the elevation of your porch which is where the "lots of concrete" comes into play. The second option looks better, imo, as you have a brick band around the bottom of the house.
Regardless of what you want, the engineer of record will required grade beams around your entire front porch. you'll have a regular 4" thick slab but your grade beams will be +-18" into existing soil + the 20"-24" above.
You can get away with only having the front part "thicker" and bringing the dirt up higher around the rest of the house. it makes your house look like it's sitting on a mound of dirt. But would be substantially cheaper. (to do this you'd have to build your house pad and let the dirt settle for x amount of time) Or you pour the whole house at the elevation of your porch which is where the "lots of concrete" comes into play. The second option looks better, imo, as you have a brick band around the bottom of the house.
This post was edited on 4/12/23 at 4:13 pm
Posted on 4/12/23 at 4:18 pm to AyyyBaw
you have a draftsman or architect or is this just you and the mrs kickin around ideas?
a decent draftsman or architect will steer you where you want to go in the most cost effective way.
a decent draftsman or architect will steer you where you want to go in the most cost effective way.
Posted on 4/12/23 at 5:43 pm to poochie
Just kicking around ideas right now. I had no idea to get that elevated look with a slab foundation instead of a CMU foundation. I believe I’m following you though and really appreciate that insight. When you talk about bringing the dirt up to look like the home is on a mound - looks better because the dirt is covering the slab and you only see bricks?
Posted on 4/12/23 at 7:17 pm to AyyyBaw
I have a slab house with a raised porch. I had a chain wall poured for the porch roof/columns support. If I could do it all over again-I’d pour the footings as mentioned but would continue the slab portion to have no dirt. A continuous slab from the house to the edge of the porch. Just my .02.
Posted on 4/12/23 at 7:17 pm to AyyyBaw
What do you want under your porch (I mean the face of your porch)? Open space? Brick? cmu?
Posted on 4/12/23 at 8:04 pm to poochie
Seems like I’ve seen a lot with a brick face which matches the brick stoop/stairs onto the porch.
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