6 inch CMU concrete block

dielectricunion · Mar 30, 2020

My shack that I'm essentially rebuilding sits on a 6" block foundation that was never quite right when built but even worse after a few decades of abuse, rain and expansive clay.

I plan to reuse most of the block to rebuild it. I'm going to just pass it off as the same old foundation for the inspection, but I was curious - does 6" hollow block have a place as foundation in any current code?

The county Im in just adopted an amended version of the 2018 IRC, and, lookin through it, I can't find anything besides 6" solid block listed.

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We Fix Houses · Mar 30, 2020

How deep is the frost line there ? How many courses of block there currently to get you 6"-12" above grade ?

You'll need to verify the footing size the existing block sits on. Each size of block requires different size footing. Dig out a corner to try to evaluate. You can drill through the top of the footing with a hammer drill to determine its thickness.

What size building is this ? An excavator / backhoe can tear out all in a day, leave you with a clean trench. Something to think about.

dielectricunion · Apr 1, 2020

I believe the frost line here is 30". I'm not even sure there is a footing under this mess. I expect to be laying up maybe 7 courses so I might have 40" of unbalanced fill. I'll probably have to pour a new footing. On this soil I'll probably need a 13x6" footing (based on IRC code tables). The building is only 18'x16' so it's basically a tiny efficiency studio apartment.

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wazez · Mar 31, 2020

How high are your walls and how much unbalanced backfill. You can gout the block with concrete and rebar and add a lot of strength.

Just a thought... block are generally cheap....you may be better off buying new instead of cleaning the old for reuse.

6 inch CMU concrete block

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