Todd Burch
06-23-2016, 3:09 PM
I've heard the term floating slab before, and have even bantered it around myself on occasion.
I was reading on the APB Pole Barns website on its page about floating slabs. It says:
Since there are no foundation walls in a pole building a floating slab can be poured inside the poles using the skirt board for forms. The concrete is considered to float because it is totally independent of the building. Changes in temperature and ground movement allow shifting of the foundation with no impact on the poles that support the structure.
A 1" foam expansion joint is placed around the perimeter of the foundation to isolate it from the wall framing of the building.
The above makes sense to me, as the slab is truly floating.
However, most of the time when I hear about floating slabs, like the kind Morton uses in their pole buildings, they pour around the posts, essentially bonding the posts to the slab.
In other references, I've even seen mention of bolting angle iron to the posts at slab level prior to pouring the "floating slab" to really lock the posts to the slab.
What say you? What do they do in your part of the country?
I was reading on the APB Pole Barns website on its page about floating slabs. It says:
Since there are no foundation walls in a pole building a floating slab can be poured inside the poles using the skirt board for forms. The concrete is considered to float because it is totally independent of the building. Changes in temperature and ground movement allow shifting of the foundation with no impact on the poles that support the structure.
A 1" foam expansion joint is placed around the perimeter of the foundation to isolate it from the wall framing of the building.
The above makes sense to me, as the slab is truly floating.
However, most of the time when I hear about floating slabs, like the kind Morton uses in their pole buildings, they pour around the posts, essentially bonding the posts to the slab.
In other references, I've even seen mention of bolting angle iron to the posts at slab level prior to pouring the "floating slab" to really lock the posts to the slab.
What say you? What do they do in your part of the country?