

Foundations provide support for structures, transferring their load to layers of soil or rock that have sufficient bearing capacity and suitable settlement characteristics.

Alternately, on completion of piling, you are set for the foundation stage. In case your building does not call for piling, you are then immediately ready to start the foundation. Know More: Piling in Building construction Stage 2 : Foundation Between the piling and foundation phase, a layer of PCC (Plain Cement Concrete) is done. Once the piling is completed, we are ready for the next stage, i.e, the foundation. There are multiple ways in which piling is done Sand Piling, Friction piling, DMC Piling (Direct Mud Circulation) are the commonly used piling methods. The reason for this is purely due to the poor soil strength – like in sandy soil or soft clay. You may have observed that sometimes even for G+1 buildings, piling is being adopted. In cases of multi storeyed buildings and also where the soil strength is very poor, it is prudent to go in for ‘piling’. Know More: Types of elevation for your house. Once the soil test report is ready, your structural engineer and architect can arrive at the type of foundation the building requires. Soil tests are carried out by the experts to assess the strength of the soil at the depth to which your building foundation is proposed. Obviously, the primary necessity of structural design of your building is to ensure its longevity and safety.

The first of the 6 stages of building construction is usually the assessment of the quality of the soil on which the building is to be constructed. Let us now look at each of these stages of building construction in detail.
