As planning continues for pond and building site development for 2006, this request for input relates to the building site at the edge of the proposed pondsite. The entire pondsite is surrounded by timber. The building site will be a notch into the timber at one shoreline on a decent uphill slope, see drawing and pix on this web page:
website page We are going to construct a small cabin, likely 16' x 24', within this site and off to one edge. I note in the website that my plan is to use 9 piers of concrete as a foundation, placed near the rear of the site where the fill soil is thin enough for the piers to bear on undisturbed. Also, I would like to have this cabin elevated to allow a crawl for storage underneath. NOW THE QUESTION: Quite frankly, this really should be a plain old concrete slab (I can live without crawlspace storage). I would reinforce it with heavy mesh. My fear, tho, is that the fill soil will not be firm enough to minimize settlement issues. The fill will be a combo of a good clay base topped with topsoil.
a) normal equipment compaction of clay and topsoil will be fine?
b) in the slab zone, no topsoil and compacted clay will be fine?
c) forget it and stick with the bearing piers?
