Frost Lines
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Old 02-08-2006, 05:47 PM   #1
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Frost Lines

Anybody have any idea what the depth of the frost lines are? I cant find it in the International Residential Code, which New Hampshire uses. I always thought for a garage that has 2' of concrete sticking up' you need around 4' inthe ground (includes footing). The concrete guy was going to pour 4' walls and 2' of it is sticking out, which would've left 2'8" in the ground. Ive seen frost over 3' deep in this part of NH. Anyway I cant find a min. depth

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Old 02-08-2006, 06:33 PM   #2
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Re: Frost Lines

Why will there be 2' sticking up??? Finished grade should be level with the top of concrete floor.

Anyways, around here we always dig our frost footers 3' deep.
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Old 02-08-2006, 06:38 PM   #3
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Re: Frost Lines

I Think in CT it is 42", jmic - would probably know for sure.
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Old 02-08-2006, 06:38 PM   #4
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Re: Frost Lines

Quote:
Originally Posted by rino1494
Why will there be 2' sticking up??? Finished grade should be level with the top of concrete floor.

Anyways, around here we always dig our frost footers 3' deep.

2' is the finished grade around the whle house because of the height of the bulkhead. where are you penn? this job is in northern NH I was thinking 4' but i would like to see something in the code.

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Old 02-08-2006, 06:38 PM   #5
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Re: Frost Lines

This area in Ct. goes by 42" for frost.
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Old 02-08-2006, 06:42 PM   #6
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Re: Frost Lines

Quote:
Originally Posted by jmic
This area in Ct. goes by 42" for frost.
Is that what the state code, or local inspector says?
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Old 02-08-2006, 06:45 PM   #7
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Re: Frost Lines

Chris,
Is what you're calling a bulkhead the little pc. of foundation wall between garage doors? Anyways from your finish garage slab elevation you should have probably ilike what your thinking 48" to bottom of your footings for frost.
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Old 02-08-2006, 06:46 PM   #8
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Re: Frost Lines

From http://www.bow-nh.com/codeenforcement.asp

Quote:
BOCA CODES:

As of 2002, the Town of Bow uses the 1984 BOCA Codes for residential buildings, and the 1999 BOCA Codes for commercial buildings.

Roof Loads: Both live load and snow load are 40Lbs/Sq Ft--- Commercial: 45-50 Lbs/Sq Ft
Ground Snow Load: Commercial: 75-85 Lbs/Sq Ft
Wind Pressure: 25 Lbs/Sq. Ft---Commercial 80-90 Lbs/Sq Ft
Seismic Zone:2 --------------------------Frost line depth: 3 Ft.
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Old 02-08-2006, 06:49 PM   #9
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Re: Frost Lines

Quote:
Originally Posted by chrisherk
Is that what the state code, or local inspector says?
Couldn't really tell you for sure, it's just common knowledge of what everyone does and the inspectors expect, so it must be code
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Old 02-08-2006, 06:55 PM   #10
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Re: Frost Lines

see also http://met-www.cit.cornell.edu/reports/RR_96-1.html
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Old 02-08-2006, 07:03 PM   #11
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Re: Frost Lines

Quote:
Originally Posted by jmic
Chris,
Is what you're calling a bulkhead the little pc. of foundation wall between garage doors?

We call that a keyway.

To us, a bulkhead is vertical footer that runs b/n grade change elevations.
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Old 02-08-2006, 07:05 PM   #12
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Re: Frost Lines

Quote:
Originally Posted by jmic
Chris,
Is what you're calling a bulkhead the little pc. of foundation wall between garage doors? Anyways from your finish garage slab elevation you should have probably ilike what your thinking 48" to bottom of your footings for frost.
the bulkhead is the outside basement stairs into the basement. For some reason they set that 2' down from top of foundation. That right there sets the grade around the whole house (flat lot).I just found in the Mass code, it says 48". I knew i was right, this concrete guy is putting garages and breezeways in too shallow. thanks, jmic

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Old 02-08-2006, 07:09 PM   #13
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Re: Frost Lines

found it


"Extreme depth of frost penetration (in meters)"
http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/PUBS_LIB/GeodeticBMs/#figure13
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Old 02-08-2006, 07:11 PM   #14
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Re: Frost Lines

Quote:
Originally Posted by rino1494
We call that a keyway.

To us, a bulkhead is vertical footer that runs b/n grade change elevations.
I guess every body calls things different, I always thought a keyway is the tie-in from the bottom of the wall to the top of footing, to keep the wall from sliding off the footing. But what do i know.
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Old 02-08-2006, 07:13 PM   #15
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Re: Frost Lines

Quote:
Originally Posted by PipeGuy
found it


"Extreme depth of frost penetration (in meters)"
http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/PUBS_LIB/GeodeticBMs/#figure13
wow, i'm impressed
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Old 02-08-2006, 07:22 PM   #16
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Re: Frost Lines

I was kinda' surprised to see it. Down here the frost line is only 1/2 a meter but everything gets 4 feet of cover. What's that, a 2:1 safety factor?
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Old 02-08-2006, 07:30 PM   #17
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Re: Frost Lines

Quote:
Originally Posted by chrisherk
I guess every body calls things different, I always thought a keyway is the tie-in from the bottom of the wall to the top of footing, to keep the wall from sliding off the footing. But what do i know.
Yeah, - - what I call a 'keyway' is a slot along the top of the footing to help prevent sliding.

Cool map, Pipe.
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Old 02-08-2006, 07:33 PM   #18
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Re: Frost Lines

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom R
Yeah, - - what I call a 'keyway' is a slot along the top of the footing to help prevent sliding.
I guess we are talking about poured walls here then. I haven't seen too many masons use a slot in the footer around here. Most use rebar sticking up.
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Old 02-08-2006, 07:44 PM   #19
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Re: Frost Lines

Quote:
Originally Posted by rino1494
We call that a keyway.
We call a keyway a 2"x2" groove that runs around the footings under where the walls will be sitting so when the walls are poured they lock into the footings.
To us, a bulkhead is vertical footer that runs b/n grade change elevations.
We just call these steps but have heard them refered to as bulkheads, I was just curious as to what Chris was refering to.
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Old 02-08-2006, 07:49 PM   #20
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Re: Frost Lines

Quote:
Originally Posted by chrisherk
the bulkhead is the outside basement stairs into the basement. For some reason they set that 2' down from top of foundation. That right there sets the grade around the whole house (flat lot).I just found in the Mass code, it says 48". I knew i was right, this concrete guy is putting garages and breezeways in too shallow. thanks, jmic

chris
Ok now I see what you're calling a bulkhead, we use precast Bilco Door Units, the Co. just comes and bolts them to foundation
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