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Have you
ever gone
into someone’s
home or
maybe your
own and
noticed
that around
the stairwell
the floor
may dip
a little.
Or maybe
after you
moved into
my new home
there seemed
to be a
lot of drywall
cracking
around the
stairway.
If you didn't
noticed
these two
things,
good. This
means your
builder
or your
friends
builder
did the
right job
supporting
the opening
around the
stairway.
When we
are pouring
the footings
and foundation
of a new
home we
pour additional
footings
that would
be centered
under the
load bearing
walls of
the stairway.
The walls
of the stairway,
in most
cases carry
the weight
of the floor
joists around
it along
with everything
that the
floor joists
carry.(i.e.
people,
furniture,
drywall,
second floor
loading,
etc.)
When I
first started
building,
because
of inexperience
and it wasn't
common practice
we didn't
install
stairway
footings.
After several
call backs
and repairs
we started
adding them.
My foundation
contractor
would not
pour stairway
footings
if I didn't
ask for
them. Which
means, since
my contractor
pours about
100 homes
a year,
I would
guess those
homes don't
have stairway
footings
either unless
their builder
asked for
them.
They are
very inexpensive
and add
greatly
to the structural
value of
the home.
They only
need to
be 16"
wide by
8"
high and
as long
as needed
to fit the
stairways
load bearing
walls. They
are poured
with the
rest of
the homes
footings
and at the
same grade.
The cost
should be
$10 to $15
per lineal
foot.
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