Foundation, Floor Calculation

Types of Foundation

Foundation — is the main part of the structure that transfers the load from the building to the ground. There are several main types of foundations:

  1. Strip Foundation: represents a continuous strip that runs along the perimeter of the building or along the walls. Typically used for brick or block houses. The strip foundation is ideal for houses with basements and ground floors.
  2. Pile foundation: consists of long poles (piles), which are driven into the ground to a certain depth. Suitable for buildings on weak, settling, or wet soils. Pile foundation calculations consider soil settlement and pile bearing capacity.
  3. Slab Foundation: is a monolithic concrete slab that evenly distributes the load from the building onto the ground surface. Often used for buildings in seismic areas. Slab foundation calculation is important for the proper load distribution and preventing settlement. The slab foundation, also called monolithic, ensures the stability of the structure.
  4. Column foundation: consists of a series of separate columns that support the building. This is an outdated type of foundation that is rarely used in modern construction. However, in some cases, column foundations are still used for small structures.
  5. Bored pile foundations: are used in complex geological conditions when it is necessary to reach stable soil layers at great depths. In the process of creating such a foundation, holes are drilled, which are then filled with concrete. The depth of bored pile foundations ensures stability even on difficult soils.
  6. Grillage foundation: is a combination of strip and column foundations, used when different loads from different parts of the building need to be considered. The grillage foundation ensures even load distribution and is suitable for buildings with uneven load on the ground.

The choice of foundation type depends on many factors such as the type of construction, soil properties, climatic conditions, load on the foundation, budget, and others. The depth of the foundation and its footing are critically important parameters in design.

Convenient online calculator that allows for foundation calculation (strip or pile), adapted for use on both desktops and mobile devices: wherever you are, you can enter the parameters of the future foundation and find out how many materials will be needed. You can then save the calculation results in one of the offered formats – .png or PDF.

Calculation results in the desired format can be downloaded to a PC or mobile device, or sent by email to your e-mail or e-mail your designer/estimator. This is recommended to verify with a specialist and consult before purchasing materials.

The calculator includes:

  • the most popular types of foundations;
  • the most popular building materials and their grades;
  • necessary consumables;
  • piles and their quantity for pile foundation and the width – for strip foundation;
  • bearing capacity and load on the specified type of foundation, etc.;
  • concrete volume for monolithic and slab foundations;
  • quantity and diameter of reinforcement for the foundation;
  • depth of foundation footing;

The online foundation calculator is easy to use even for those not related to construction but want to estimate approximate costs for Portland cement, sand, gravel, and reinforcement for formwork. The online calculator for concrete and reinforcement is based on standard data, so it would be wise to consult with someone who has conducted a survey on your site and can recommend the correct parameters for the foundation.

For calculations, the foundation calculator uses centimeters, not meters: this means that data for a foundation strip 0.4 m wide and 30 m long will be represented as 40 cm and 3000 cm respectively. This allows for a more accurate calculation of the volume of concrete and the amount of reinforcement needed for the foundation. Calculating cubic meters of concrete allows for an accurate determination of the amount of cement needed for the foundation pour.