Curious if anyone has much expertise on wood foundations. Wife and I are looking at a house that was moved in on top of a wooden foundation the owners had built. There was then an addition added to it. Three of the foundation walls are surrounded by dirt and the third is a walk out. There is a noticeable outward lean to that wall, yet the drywall inside the basement isnt cracked. The slider door is also difficult to open. The interior basement middle wall also has an outward lean. All other corners appear correct. The owners cant get ahold of a foundation guy because theyre apparently swamped, guessing from all the water issues this year. They had a neighbor who was a construction guy in some way look at it. His opinion is that the walls werent straight when the house was set on the foundation, and it hasnt moved since, which has been several years. Is this something thats possibly ok or should we run away as fast as we can? If i made an offer, id include that the foundation be inspected by someone knowledgable of my choosing, but if anyone has insight into a major problem i may not even bother. Thanks

I know quite a few people with full basements and one guy with 3 sides dirt with an open side to the south that are all wood foundations. My next door neighbor has a full basement, and absolutely no problems from the people I know that have them. I built my home 35 years ago and have a 4 foot crawl space that is wood and no problems. I have mine insulated of course and have checked behind insulation through the years and the wood looks and tests as good as the day I put it in. I see absolutely no problems running from it, but of course they need to be install correctly with the spec application applied and process.

Good luck.

I may add that I know of other homes with wood foundations that are super expensive homes not to far from ne that have wood. I don't know these people but most of those homes were built before mine.

Our local house mover loves them! Says that in a few years they will be calling to have him jack up the house so they can put in concrete. That being said I have seen some nice houses with them and had no problems. To me it seems if the house was built on them, they are straight. But if they where moved on, then they can move. Much also depends upon the soil conditions and/or the contractor who built it. Personally I'm not a big fan of them due to the chemicals used to treat the material. Do you want to breath that everyday?

I would purchase another house. It's not worth the risk or worry to mess with that one unless it's at a giveaway price.

Keith

I dont think I could insure a house with a wood foundation here.

I do not know about your part of the country but a wood foundation would not last long here. Between the termites and water rot it might last 5 years.

Pa too I would be Leary of it. What kind of wood? Pressure treated wood now a days is not the same as it was years ago. Be careful but have it checked out some how........jk

I wouldn't be inclined to buy it but.......if you are serious I would get a structural engineer to look at it. NOT just some home inspection guy.

Play it safe, buy a home with a concrete, stone or masonry foundation.

I've always considered wood in contact with the ground a temporary situation.

I'm an engineer - do a lot of foundation inspections - but never ran into a wood foundation.

personally I dont like the idea and wouldn't buy or build it myself.
it also sounds like the walls are out of plumb, which is not a good sign.

Even if the walls werent plumb when the house was placed on them, how in the world can you have any confidence that any of the rest of it was built right?

wood foundations are in the building code, their are standards for it, yet it's still not common.
water and moisture would be a big concern. would required proper damp-proofing and vapor barriers, drain tile, sump pump, and make sure its properly graded to keep water away from the house.

if i was looking at a wood foundation structure and it was even remotely questionable, I'd walk...

It the wood certified for ground contact?

Glad to have the responses. Ill be walking away from it. I had severe doubts about it, this more than confirmed it.

My wifes unkle was a excellent carpenter.... he built a couple with wood basments... this was in the 80s ... im sure he used the best material and guidlines that there were at that time.... he said they were 40 -50 year houses..
do the math !

I woudnt touch it

I have a friend with a wood basement. Dirt on 3 sides and open to the South. It was plumb when the house was built. It's now shifted almost 4 inches on top. The whole basement is leaning that far. 10 more years and the house will be on the ground. He went so far as putting in a bunch of deadmen on the one side to hold it and still moving. To finish the basement, he had to build another wall on the inside to get something straight. Run, run, run.

Some people used to build them around here with wood.
I have not seen one built in quite awhile.
Not worth the risk in my opinion.