hi all!
I’m in the design phase of building a free standing 2-story Wikihouse in Belgium. I’d like to use screw pile foundations, where the floor blocks will be raised from the ground about 15 cm. But the cavity under the ground floor blocks still has me a bit worried. More precisely, I’m wondering:
- How to protect the underside of the ground floor blocks against humidity present in the air in the cavity, as well as against rodents trying to get in?
- How to protect the incoming pipe connecting to the freshwater supplies and the pipes going out with gray & black water against freezing in winter?
I’ve taken a look at the bill of materials and sketchup file for the Switch house design, but didn’t see any specifications on either topics.
My idea for problem one:
- Cover the soil with a membrane that limits humidity rising up
- Lay an anti-rodent mesh over this membrane, with upstanding sides that connect to the sole plate, so that the cavity is completely enclosed with mesh
- Potentially also add a weatherproof breather to the bottom of the ground blocks, I just can’t imagine how to actually install it (the cavity is too small to crawl under the floor blocks)
My idea for problem two is:
- Build a wooden casing lined with insulation on the inside, that goes around any water pipes that go in and out the ground floor blocks
- Add a small heating cord around the pipes that switches on automatically when temperatures approach freezing point
Do these ideas make sense? Does anyone has other ideas of how to approach this?
best,
Elias