concrete slabs

[Nick]

Does anyone provide a concrete slab design for soil that freezes? I live in NY and I would like to put my new home on a slab. Can ayone help me or forward me a print or design?

[Andrew]

Hello Nick,

If you are doing a permanent foundation for a MH home - you would need to get an engineer to draw a plan specific to your site and soil conditions to really get it done correctly. The engineer would need the plans and specifications on the specific home to draw this out.

You might check with your local MH dealers to see who they are using for permanent foundations to find the right person to engineer it for you.

Good luck

[Mark]

More importantly, find out if the home you want can be put _on_ a slab. Most all MH's cannot be placed flat on a slab due to plumbing and electrical issues.
Code requires a crawl space for access to these items.

You can still have a slab, but the home won't sit on it, it will sit on piers.

[Gil Davis]

There must be a crawl space. Aconcrete slab needs to be built to your local code, but any contractor should be able to do that. Careful about where water and sewer lines arelocated so its not a real bear to connect the home to the stub-out in the slab. I would recommend our "Power Wall" foundation, but we haven't yet gotten it approved in NY.

[Eugene]

NICK,
you are asking for problems, the manufactures will not provide a slab design because they shift in the freezing temps.
You also need to think about home that home will be anchored, is the slab going to hold together to be heavy enough to hold the home in place?
If you install ground anchors before you pour the slab, what will happen when the slab heaves and the anchors don't?
Stay away from a slab, go with what the manufacturer tells you to do.

[Nick2]

Thanks for the info. I did a lot of research and found out about protecting the slab from frost. I also found out if the slab is not protected from the frost I will have major problems. I am having an engineer design a slab for me with a thermal break around the perimeter of the slab and it will protect the slab from frost heave. Hey Eugene, you are the only person with any sense.