Advantages1. Easy to Build
One of the many advantages of the Permanent Wood foundation system is that
construction of the foundation walls employ conventional framing techniques
similar to those used to frame the main floor exterior walls.
Walls may be framed to any convenient height depending on whether the
foundation is for a full basement or crawl space installation.
The ability to frame the foundation walls to custom heights allows for
special heights in multi-level dwellings as well as the installation of
T-bar ceilings.
2. Versatile
The Permanent Wood Foundation is adaptable to almost any design of house and
fits a variety of floor plans for both level and sloping sites.
Design flexibility of the Permanent Wood Foundation allows single level or
multilevel dwellings and accommodates homes and apartments of virtually any
exterior shape or complexity.
Schools, offices or other commercial and nonresidential buildings can also
be built readily on Permanent Wood Foundations.
The Permanent Wood Foundation can be adapted to a variety of soil
conditions, including low-bearing capacity soils or situations involving
high water tables.
Plus, since the Permanent Wood Foundation lends itself readily to major
renovations, wood foundations can be expanded or altered with relatively
little difficulty.
In remote locations, Permanent Wood Foundations can be constructed using no
concrete whatsoever - an ideal situation where concrete for footings is not
available or the cost prohibitive.
3. Strength
The Permanent Wood Foundation is an engineered foundation construction
system designed to absorb and distribute earth, wind, seismic loads and
stresses that would frequently crack and split other types of foundations.
Permanent Wood Foundations are very resistant to damage from cold weather
and cracking due to minor soil settlements is greatly reduced.
This ability of the foundations system to 'give' with minor soil settlements
and other adjustments reduces greatly the maintenance required.
4. Long Lifespan
The lifetime of a Permanent Wood foundation is at least equal to the life of
the structure above. Accelerated laboratory testing of modern pressure
treated materials indicates a lifetime of over 100 years with no serious
deterioration.
Durability of the systems has been amply demonstrated over the long-term by
in-ground tests conducted over the past 40 years by various Federal
agencies.
In addition, preservative-treated wood in these tests has withstood severe
decay and termite conditions.
5. Reduced Construction Time