The Relevance of a High Oversite Concrete/Foundation of a House

Oversite concrete (often referred to as German floor by the laymen) is a layer of concrete used to seal the earth under the ground floor of a house.

Before pegging and digging the foundation of the proposed building. The first thing is to determine how high the oversite concrete of the house should be raised above the natural ground level. Note that there will be many different levels on a sloped land.

It is very important to check the topography of the area. More important is the level of the land with respect to the road. If the road is tarred, use it as a reference for determining how high to fill the land when the building is completed for proper grading of the yard for surface drainage. But if the road is not tarred, endeavor to put into consideration how high in the future you think the road will be filled or excavated during construction and use that as a guide or reference.

Having a good knowledge of how high the land should be filled to enable water to drain out completely during and after rain, this will determine the height to raise your foundation before pouring the oversite concrete. The Foundation must be a minimum of 300 - 450 mm higher than the anticipated highest point of filling required for the surroundings of the building. Most people do not like to raise their foundation because of the extra cost of filling it, but years later they will regret not doing it.

High oversite concrete/foundation has a lot of advantages: It helps to prevent flood from getting into the house after heavy rain fall, it allows the surroundings of the building to be filled higher than the road level for good draining when it rains, high foundation serves as a barrier to slow down moisture rising by capillary action and it is more effective if damp proof membrane (common examples is polyethylene sheet) is used and different landscape design can be achieved in the future if desired. It also adds value to the property because future prospective buyers will appreciate owning a house with very low propensity for floods.

When the oversite concrete/foundation is not raised adequately, it becomes impossible to correct. Most especially if the house is a completed storey building.

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