Help! House has Slab Foundation with No Footer.

[Jeff]

I recently purchased my first home, which was built in 1969. I live in central Florida. After Huricane Frances blew through, I noticed that there was some water seeping into the front bedroom from beneath the wall caused by the fact that there was a lot of standing water on the outside of the house where that bedroom is. While addressing this issue by running some drainage pipe from that area out to the edge of the yard, I discovered that the the house does not seem to have a footer at all. It appears as though the foundation is just sitting on top of the ground with nothing at all to 'root' it in place and to distribute the weight of the house.

Now I'm at a complete loss as to what to do. Was this building practice normal in 1969? If not, what recourse do I have? It would seem that every house in my subdivision was built like this, as I have talked to a few neighbors who have had similar leakage problems, and another who explicitly said that he discovered his house has no footer either.

Any input at all would be great. Just buying the house was nerve racking enough. The prospect of possibly having to pay for repairs or modifications that I quite simply cannot afford is enough to give me ulcers.

Thanks in advance. Jeff

[Ron]

I'd check with your local building agency for compliance with building codes.

modifications

[cm]

I would think that if the house has been there since 1969 you do not have as big a problem as you think you do. The house has been there for 35 years as it was built. If it only leaks during a huricane then deal with the leaking as best you can and forget about your lack of footer.

AZCRAIG

modifications

[Art]

The water table is probably too high for a footer.

modifications

[dadiOH]

Not to worry, it's called a "monoslab", quite common in flat areas. The footers are poured as part of the slab; i.e., the perimeter of the pour is much thicker than the "slab" part.

One can build even large buildings in this way. For example, the Davies Pacific Center in Honolulu - 20+ stories and a block square - is on a slab...no pilings even though pilings are the norm there.

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[Yaofeng]

Just imagine the walls and posts supporting your house have footing as thick as the slab. Put the other way, the slabs in your house are thickened to match the footing depth. This is for construction expediency.

You're in Florida. There is no issue with frost heave. So the bottom of the footing can be poured where sufficient soil bearing is found. As the other poster pointed out, the house has been there 35 years and there is no uneven settlement. It will likely to have no structural problems in the forseeable future.

You just need proper drainage. That's all.

[default]

That's kind of pointless, on a 35 year old house. do you even know who built it?

[Jeff]

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I had certainly thought about the fact that the house is 35 years old and doesn't seem to have any major damage to the slab (that I can tell, anyway), so maybe there's nothing to worry about. I'm just a natural-born worrier, though. :-)

I'm thinking what I'm going to do is add soil to that area of the house, and to any others that might need it, to raise the ground up a bit. Not sure how much soil I'll need, but I'll figure it out as I go along. The guttering along the house should probably be re-thought. Between those two things, and the drain pipe that I've already put into the ground through the problem area, hopefully the issue will be resolved.

Thanks again for the responses. My mind is a little more at ease now. Now I just have to deal with the nice certified letter I just received saying that the County is going to pave the roads throughout the neighborhood and I get to pay up to $788 because of it. Ugh.

Take care, All. Jeff