Looking to build a cabin this summer and I'm pretty limited on locations. I'm wanting to build it on piers. Concrete footers withpost on top then start the floor joists from there. Looking at 20'×24' 2 story. I thought that some of you guys may have experience with building in such locations and I'm looking for advice. I'm trying to ake this location work if at all possible. I'm really looking for suggestions on footer design to deal with how wet it is at this location. I'm all ears.

I built in very wet clay soil. I used a product called bigfoots. They are plastic cones that spread out at the footing and taper up to the size of the sonotube you use. There shape makes them hard to be picked up by the frost. I went 5 feet deep and put in rerod down the sonotubes with a 12in. J bolt in the top of the tube. I put 6x8 pt wood blocks on top of the tubes drilled to let the J bolt go in to the block 3in. Its been three years and they haven't moved. I think i remember the bigfoots were 30in at the bottom.

I've seen the bigfoots. Thats the kind of setup that I would be considering. My thoughts are that if i go far enough below the frost line and then high enough to be above the runoff on top the ground i should be able to get around the water issue. 3 year track record is nice to hear as well. Do you have any moisture problems on the post, floor joists, or subfloor? Anything special to sealing the bottom from moisture?

I used pt joist and beams on top of that i 5/4in hemlock ruffsawn boards. I then framed the walls,put up the roof,shingled and siding installed. Then i stapled down 30# felt paper over the hemlock subfloor then screw 7/16 OSB down for the floor. I have built them this way for 12 years and only had to make minor leveling adjustments to the blocks on top of the sonotubes. I originally bought a camp it's supports had rotted off,floor joist rotted and floor also rotted. I jacked it up and put on the sonotube and bigfoot like i describe and rebuilt the floor joist and hemlock,30#felt and 7/16 OSB plywood. I have 5ft to 3ft from the floor joist to the ground. Everything is still dry and sound. The frost raises the ground and ice up about 10inches under the camp. I think if you can leave at least 2ft for good air flow under your camp it would be fine. You could go higher if you get that much water.

2' on the lowest side would work fine. No need to go any higher than that. The water is bad after days of sustained rain. It flattens out and the water just disperses everywhere. Im going to address this farther up hill behind the cabin. That may help alot. It seems like if i go low enough below frost line to eliminate the heaving and high enough to stay away from the surface water i may be OK. Do you use the j bolts in the columns for your adjustment to compensate for movement?

I use the J bolts just as a pin for the pt blocks to sit over. It just acts as a way to keep them in place. I use the hemlock because it resist rotting and porcupines usually wont chew it. If you use the hemlock nail it down before it dries. When it dries it is very hard to nail.

If it's a wet location, I would definitely NOT use concrete piers. They will sink. Also, for absolutely certain I would not use posts on piers. A two story building on posts, has WAY too much leverage on that small a building footprint.

My suggestion would be to build a system of cribbing at the corners and midpoints out of pressure treated 6x6 or 8x8. Drop a couple beams across those and floor joists on top of the beams.

At least with this set up you can always jack the beams up a bit and shim the cribbing to keep the place level

I agree with Ken. Our main lodge sits on bad ground. ( wet clay soil) We have 12 log buildings on the site ranging in size from 60x35 to 12x 12. We tried everything. We ended up doing building big pads out of 2x6 pressure treated lumber. Each pad is 3 layers of 2x6 thick, and sit right on top of the ground. That is our foundation, we just built up from there. Yep they move a bit, but are easy to level. I've spent the last 30-years of my life building and maintaining those buildings. If I had it to do over again, I would pick better ground, if at all possible.Our upper lake camp is built on good ground, using the same foundation system and never moves at all.

Would cribbing support a 20x24 2 story? Or should the search for drier ground continue?

Drier ground would be better but the cribbing will definitely support the building PROVIDED you use adequate beams. Inadequate beams will fail before the cribbing.

Thanks guys. I'm going to try and handle the water a little better before i start to see how much a difference that may make. Any other advice to make it a comfortable living space is welcome as well.

Besides being wet, what exactly is the ground? Have any test holes ever been dug or drilled there? If there is gravel or any other firm base within say 20 ft of the surface, look into helical piles. They’re getting popular here locally. Basically they’re just pipe pilings but with a large auger bit on the bottom, that are screwed into the ground instead of pounded. They are sturdy if they can get down to a decent base.

Very early stages, kenai. Its on my dads property and during deer season this past November i looked the place over and thought it would be a good spot for a hunting cabin/weekend getaway type place. The location is in The head of a hollow about 40 yards wide with a creek coming down the left side. I'm thinking of cleaning the creek up and seeing how well that helps. I think alot ,of the water is coming from The creek being clogged up. Hopefully get it cleaned up early this spring to see how much of the problem can be eliminated by doing this. I was thinking of using a post auger on the gractor to see what the ground is like 4 or 5 feet down. Generally pretty good ground to build on around here, just a lot of surface water in thks particular spot. I would like to build there because there is not a lot of access any where else.