When planning a home, there are many important factors to consider! Undoubtedly, the foundation is the most important, because the wrong choice or construction of foundation can cause a lot of problems in the future, so this choice must be taken seriously! There are three most popular types of foundation in Latvia:

  • Classic ribbon foundation
  • Piles, several types, both screwed and driven and concreted
  • Foundation slabs, several types as well

This time I would like to talk more about the third type, namely foundation plates, or, more precisely, insulated foundation plates.

If we talk about significant advantages over the others, for this foundation there are eight of them:

  • There are no cold (thermal) bridges
  • Construction costs
  • Very low U value
  • Possibility to install heating – heated floor
  • Suitable for many soil types
  • Versatility
  • Construction pace
  • Durability

Now, in winter, we can surely add another advantage to the list – the above-mentioned possibility to also build foundations at temperatures down to -10 ˚C!

Next, we present each of the advantages and analyse them in more detail:

  1. No thermal bridges. For those who have been in construction for a longer time, this point could be taken for granted, because the insulated foundation slab, in essence, forms a kind of thermal insulation (formwork), which is filled with concrete. The thickness of the thermal insulation most often depends on the energy efficiency requirements, as well as on the manufacturer. Ecsoen offers to produce foundation slab perimeter moulds according to the customer’s desired thicknesses.
  2. Construction costs. Costs in construction consist of materials, equipment and salaries. There are many manufacturers of foundation insulation materials, so this point must be considered individually, taking the costs and technical characteristics into account. The technical costs are usually lower for the foundation slabs, because very often it is enough to remove the topsoil; the thermal insulation formwork itself can be assembled by hand, without the help of a crane. Salary costs are also lower, the construction time is shorter and the amount of work to be done is smaller! The foundation formwork offered by #Ecsoen is made individually for each project, taking the technical parameters of the building into account, while at the same time not significantly increasing the cost of materials in the manufacturing process.
  3. Low value is not bad ?! Real estate sellers would not agree, but if we talk about the ‘U value’ – the lower the figure, the better! Of course, the building does not consist of the foundation only, so this point must be seen in conjunction with the walls, windows and roof, heating and recuperation system, etc. The Ecsoen construction system has permanent formwork for the foundation and walls, which means that we can combine these two construction stages very well.
  4. Heating installation. Often a heated floor is also built into the foundation slab, which speeds up the construction process. The installation of heated floors in the foundation slab is an individual decision of each customer, which depends on the evaluation of benefits.
  5. Suitable for many soil types. This point is usually assessed by the building designer, taking into account the load-bearing capacity of the soil, the weight of the house, the amount of concrete used and the type of reinforcement.
  6. Versatility. This type of foundation is suitable for practically any type of wall – block, wooden frame, milled log houses, and, of course, in combination with the permanent formwork offered by Ecsoen, you can get a monolithic building frame without cold bridges.
  7. Construction pace. This advantage was already partly mentioned in Paragraph 2 under costs. So, a smaller amount of work to be performed, only 2-3 people needed, who, due to the simplicity of the construction technology, perform preparatory works and also the construction of the foundation itself in a short period of time.
  8. Durability. The foundation slab forms a monolithic structure which, thanks to the large area, distributes the weight of the building evenly over the entire slab, and the total pressure of the building and the foundation on the ground is also very even. By placing additional plates around the foundation slab around the perimeter, the frost does not get under the load-bearing structures, thus preventing the soil bump formation under the house, as a result of which the slab is protected from cracking.

You may already be on your way to your house, the project is ready, coordinated, but this seems like an interesting solution? Ecsoen foundation technology can be adapted to any ready-made project!

If necessary, we, the Ecsoen team, offer to provide a full construction cycle, not only for the foundations, but also for the entire building.

Interested? Call, write and ask: 28 454 811; ecsoen@ecsoen.lv