New Door Entrance in Existing Building

[jike]

An Architect wants to place a new door in an existing building that has an earth berm with a foundation just under the existing floor. I pointed out to him that this could get expensive with the cost of underpinning down to frost for the existing footing. Another aspect that makes it interesting is that we are in granular material.

We talked about using insulation but I am not totally convinced that the insulation will cover all paths of frost potentially getting below the footing.

Another thought was to install helical anchors down to below frost level but it still may be possible for frost to push up on the bottom of the footing unless it was underpinned.

Any other ideas?

 

[dik]

The force caused by freezing can be extreme... you might be better served by examining the use of insulation...

dik

 

[stevenl]

If the immediate interior is heated, I agree with insulating as a possible solution.
Truly granular material which extends from your footings and well beyond frost depth may reduce frost heave potential. Silts or clays which are less permeable will "perch" a melt for subsequent freezing in place. Granular material may reduce perching of water and thus reduce frost heave.